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SO U V E N I R 

Trip of Congressional Party 
to Panama 

March 12-18, nineteen hundred and seven 



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LETTERS WRITTEN. TO THE WASHINGTON, PA., OBSERVER BY ERNEST F. ACHESON 



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Congressional Party on Steps of Hotel Tivoli. 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
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http://www.archive.org/details/souvenirtripofcoOOache 



PREFA CE 



On March 6, 1907, a party composed of forty-five members of the U. S. House of Representatives sailed from New- 
York on the Steamer Panama for Colon. The personnel of the party was as follows : 



Ernest F. Acheson, Washington, Pa. 
Henry C. Allen, Little Falls, N. J. 
Andrew J. Barchfeld, Pittsburg, Pa. 
Franklin E. Brooks, Colo. Springs, Col. 
Robert F. Brussard, New Iberia, La. 
Albert S. Burleson, Austin, Tex. 
John C. Chaney, Sullivan, Ind. 
Pleasant T. Chapman, Vienna, I1L 
Ralph D. Cole, Findlay, O. 
John Dalzell, Pittsburg, Pa. 
Charles R. Davis, St. Peter, Minn. 
Beman G. Dawes, Marietta, O. 
Edgar C. Ellis, Kansas City, Mo. 
David J. Foster, Burlington, Vt. 
John H. Foster, Evansville, Ind. 



Finis J. Garrett, Dresden, Tenn. 
Clarence C. Gilhams, La Grange, Ind. 
Oscar W. Gillespie, Fort Worth, Tex. 
Joseph V. Graff, Peoria, 111. 
Daniel L. Granger, Providence, R. I. 
James M. Gudger, Ashville, N. C. 
Ebenezer J. Hill, Norwalk, Conn. 
Elias S. Holliday, Brazil, Ind. 
James A. Hughes, Huntingdon, W. Va. 
Benjamin Johnson, Bardstown, Ky. 
J. Warren Keifer, Springfield, O. 
James Kennedy, Youngstown, O. 
John W. Langley, Prestonburg, Ky. 
George L. Lilley, Waterbury, Conn. 
Mial E. Lilley, Towanda, Pa. 



George A. Loud, AuSable, Mich. 
Samuel W. McCall, Winchester, Mass. 
Bird S. McGuire, Pawnee, Okla. 
Thomas F. Marshall, Oakes, N. D. 
Theobold Otjen, Milwaukee, Wis. 
Richard Wayne Parker, Newark, N. J. 
Sereno E. Payne, Auburn, N. Y. 
Ernest M. Pollard, Nehawka, Neb. 
Jos. E. Ransdell, Lake Providence, La. 
Joseph T. Robinson, Lonoke, Ark. 
William W. Rucker, Keytesville, Mo. 
Edmund W. Samuel, Mt. Carmel, Pa. 
Charles F. Scott, Iola, Kan. 
Sylvester C. Smith, Bakersfield, Cal. 
Edward L. Taylor, Columbus, O. 



Mr. Payne acted as president of the delegation and Mr. Scott as secretary. Hon. Benjamin F. Harper, Auditor for 
the War Department, and his wife ; Col. George W. Goethals and Maj. D. D. Gaillaid, two of the U. S. Engineers chosen 
by President Roosevelt as members of the re-organized Canal Commission, were passengers on the Panama and accompa- 
nied the party on its inspection of the Isthmus. 

Before leaving home the writer had promised to send some letters to the Washington, Pa., Observer. Those who 
were members of the party will understand how fully the time was occupied and the great pressure under which the work was 
done. No opportunity for correction or revision of the articles was afforded as they were mailed when written. The writer 
is assured that those who are familiar with the circumstances will overlook errors and deal charitably with these hasty pro- 
ductions. This souvenir is printed at the suggestion of some members of the delegation who had read the newspaper letters. 
Washington, Pa., April 20, 1907. ERNEST F. ACHESON. 



/ 



First Day on the Isthmus 



Colon, Panama, March 12. — The trip 
from New York to Colon in the month 
of March is most delightful, at least 
we found it so this year. The weather 
was fine throughout the entire voyage, 
the table was good, the state rooms 
comfortable and all the surroundings 
enjoyable. We came on the ship 
"Panama," owned by the Panama 
Railroad company, which now belongs 
to the Isthmian Canal commission. 
The distance between New York and 
Colon is 1,975 miles, and the "Pan- 
ama" makes it in less than six days. 
It is a ship of five thousand seven 
hundred tons, only about one-half the 
size of one of the great ocean liners, 
yet more than sixty times as large as 
the boat in which Columbus first cross- 
ed the Atlantic. 

One of the most interesting inci- 
dents of our voyage was the glimpse 
we had of San Salvador or Cat Island, 
on which Columbus first set foot. We 
passed within a half mile to the east, 
and could clearly see the pile of stones 
which has been erected as a monu- 
ment to mark the spot where Colum- 
bus is said to have landed. This island 
is now designated on the map as 
Watling's island. Columbus called it 
San Salvador, "The land of the Holy 
Savior." The great navigator expect- 
ed to reach Asia on this voyage, and 



had letters to the Great Kahn of Tar- 
tary, whom he hoped to convert to 
Christianity. It would be thought 
that the name bestowed upon this 
island by the discoverer would have 
been accepted throughout all time, 
but it has been rechristened and given 
the name of a man of whom the world 
knows nothing. We have many in- 
stances of this in history, and in our 
own western Pennsylvania. One hun- 
dred and fifty years ago when Wash- 
ington first crossed the Alleghenies he 
stood upon the mountain top in what 
is now Somerset county and looked 
down at the place where the Castle- 
man river, the Youghiogheny river 
and Ursina creek unite. The coming 
together of three streams at one place 
was so unusual that Washington call- 
ed it "Turkey Foot" and so it was 
known for more than a hundred 
years. A few years ago the people 
of that place who did not appreciate 
the unique character of the name, 
and the fact that it had been given 
by one of the most illustrious men in 
the world's history, had it changed to 
Confluence, a name which could mark 
the point of union of any two streams. 
So Bloody Hun in Bedford county, an 
historic spot since revolutionary days, 
was robbed of its name not long ago, 
and given the commonplace title of 

— 3— 



Everett. Only recently a proposition 
has been made to change the name of 
the old town of Hickory in Washing- 
ton county to that of Wabash. Such 
vandalism should be discouraged. 

The "Panama" is equipped with the 
De Forest system of wireless tele- 
graphy. It is a never ceasing wonder. 
The operator sent messages for many 
of us to the station at Cape Hatteras 
and talked with other vessels at sea, 
many of which were so far away that 
we could not see them. He caught 
many messages flying through the air 
from Cuba and other points. The wire- 
less telegraph is truly one of the mar- 
velous inventions of the age. 

When we reached the Gulf stream 
some one recalled the story of the 
old sea captain, who during the Civil 
war told the British that the Yankees 
would get even for their unfriendli- 
ness, by digging the Panama canal 
and turning the Gulf stream into the 
Pacific. It was a story which attract- 
ed some attention and caused specula- 
tion. Magellan, the discoverer, was 
quoted as having said that a volcanic 
eruption which would make a channel 
across the Isthmus of Panama, would 
deflect the Gulf stream to the Pacific, 
and convert England and Northern 
Europe into a territory as barren and 
desolate as Greenland. As the Gulf 



stream is 80 miles wide and a thous- 
and feet deep, with a current of two 
or three miles per hour, it is not like- 
ly that even a sea level canal across 
the Isthmus, 200 feet wide and 40 
feet deep, would have the slightest 
effect upon it. Moreover the tide at 
Colon, as shown by a series of obser- 
vations covering a period of five years 
is less than one and a half feet, while 
at Panama on the Pacific side is near- 
ly nineteen feet. In a sea-level canal 
at least one lock would be necessary 
to regulate the tide, and prevent the 
rush of water from the Pacific to the 
Atlantic. However, the type of canal 
as adopted involves its construction at 
a level of 85 feet above the sea. 

The city of Colon has a bad reputa- 
tion. It is less than two feet above 
sea level, and until recently has been 
notoriously unhealthy. It is surround- 
ed by the miasmatic swamps of the 
Chagres river. When the French were 
at work on the canal twenty years ago, 
it was said that every cart load of 
earth which ,was handled near Colon 
represented a human life. Likewise it 
was stated that in the construction of 
the railroad across the Isthmus there 
was a death for every tie that was 
laid. Both these statements were ex- 
aggerations. The railroad is forty 
seven miles long, and twenty-five 
hundred ties are used in each mile. 
Some authorities here say that less 
than seven thousand persons who were 



employed on these two enterprises 
died during their construction. How- 
ever, the cemetery at Monkey Hill, 
just outside Colon, contains thirty 
thousand graves. Many thousands of 
these are the last resting places of 
adventurers, criminals and outcasts 
from every nation who were attracted 
to Panama by the great work going on, 
and were never able to leave. Rum 
caused the death of thousands. Those 
who use alcohol too freely cannot live 
in the tropics. As rum lost Russia 
the war with Japan, it also carried off 
thousands who came to Panama es- 
pecially in those days before the pro- 
per sanitary measures were put into 
operation and yellow fever was preval- 
ent. Although. Colon is not in the 
Canal zone, the Isthmian commission 
has control so far as sanitation and 
the preservation of the peace is con- 
cerned. The streets are being raised, 
paved and sewered, and it will not be 
long until the old Spanish town has 
more the appearance of a bustling 
American city. 

Our party is to go across the Isthmus 
on the Panama railroad. This line is 
47 miles in length and cost originally 
$8,000,000. It was built by Americans, 
to whom a concession was granted in 
1850. It was finished in 1855, and for 
years thereafter was said to be the 
best paying railroad in the world. It 
had a monopoly of railroad rights on 
the Isthmus. No one could build a 

—4— 



road of any kind between the two 
oceans. It paid for itself in four 
years. Columbia received $250,000 a 
year for the concession. For thirty 
years it cost $25.00 in gold for pas- 
sage across the Isthmus, and the 
freight charges were $160.00 per ton. 
As oniginaHy constructed the road 
had a five foot gauge and fifty-six 
pound rails. The ties were lignum 
vitae, so hard that it was necessary to 
bore holes to drive spikes. This was 
the only wood that could be used on 
account of the ants. The telegraph 
poles are iron. The big bridge across 
the Chagres river is said to have been 
the first steel structure of the kind. 
It is still standing and in excellent 
condition. 

Colon is almost due south of Wash- 
ington county. It is just a little east 
of the 80th meridian, which passes 
through Bentleyville and Finleyville. 
It is a little north of the 9th parallel. 
The 40th parallel crosses southern 
Washington county. 

We are to go from Colon today to 
Panama city on the Pacific coast. The 
route of the railroad and of the canal 
is from northwest to southeast. This 
is rather puzzling, as we naturally 
think the canal should be on an east 
and west line. However, the Isthmus, 
which is four hundred and eighty miles 
long and thirty-seven to one hundred 
and ten miles wide, runs almost east 
and west. Panama, the Pacific en- 









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trance to the canal, is almost twenty 
miles further east than Colon. As a 
local illustration we might say that 
if the Washington seminary stood on 
the site of Colon, the direction of the 
canal toward the Pacific, instead of 
being along Maiden street toward Main 
street, would be out East Maiden 
street toward Brady's hill. 

One can see here something of the 
vast work done by the French. Dur- 
ing the decade which they were at 
work, they spent over $250,000,000. 
The United States paid $40,000,000 
to the French company for all its 
right, title and interest in the canal. 
It has been alleged that of what the 
French spent one third was stolen, 
one-third wasted and one-third went 
into the work of digging the canal. - 
Already I find these figures question- 
ed. Many of those who know a good 
deal about the canal say that while 
undoubtedly millions of dollars were 
squandered and stolen, that at least 
half the total- expenditure was for 
work which will count in the comple- 
tion of the canal. The total excava- 
tion under the French regime was 
about 88,000,000 cubic yards. Much 
of the money which was squandered 
was in the purchase of useless ma- 
chinery which is now out of date. 
Fully one-half of the excavation was 
in the backbone of the divide between 
the two oceans, and was useful work. 
The original French plans contem- 



plated a sea level canal seventy-two 
feet wide and twenty-nine and a half 
feet deep, but the plan subsequently 
adopted was for a canal ninety-eight 
feet wide, and twenty-nine and a half 
feet deep. 

According to the plan adopted by 
the United States, the great cut will 
be two hundred feet wide at the bot- 
tom and forty feet deep. It will 
be five hundred feet wide for two- 
thirds of its length. When the French 
left the great cut the distance across 
the highest point was about seven 
hundred and fifty feet. When our 
canal is completed it will be about a 
thousand feet. The French erected 
over twenty-one hundred buildings of 
various kinds, and Mr. Wright, the 
architect who has charge of the work 
in that line for our government, tells 
me that they are of excellent design, 
material and construction. While the 
French erected fine hospitals, they 
did nothing for the preservation of 
health. Indeed they were not familiar 
with modern methods of preventing di- 
sease. Under their administration the 
employes were poorly fed and the 
mortality among them was appalling. 

When the United States gave $40,- 
000,000 for the canal, the various parts 
of the work were estimated as fol- 
lows: 

Excavation, $27,500,000; Panama 
railroad, $6,850,000; maps, drawings 
and records, $2,000,000, and buildings, 

— 5— 



storehouses, hospitals, land, equip- 
ment, etc., $4,000,000. This seems to 
have been a good bargain for Uncle 
Sam. 

One of the greatest accomplish- 
ments of the Americans on the Isth- 
mus has been the suppression of yel- 
low fever. The mosquito has practic- 
ally been put out of business. The 
medical authorities and scientific 
world now recognize the correctness 
of the mosquito theory as to yellow 
fever. The transmission of yellow 
fever has been prevented, and the 
disease stamped out, by destroying 
the "loaded" mosquito. Oil is scat- 
tered throughout all the swamps and 
stagnant pools where these mosquitoes 
breed. As a result no authentic case 
of yellow fever has been reported here 
for eighteen months, whereas it was 
once prevalent at all seasons. 

While the theory that malaria is 
conveyed by mosquitoes is not yet 
so generally accepted, it is being 
demonstrated by actual experiments 
here to be correct. The medical men 
say that within a few months they 
will satisfy the scientific world that 
malaria is due to the mosquito, just 
as yellow fever is. Just as the ma- 
laria bearing mosquito is destroyed, 
the prevalence of malaria decreases. 
The authorities examine the blood of 
the West Indian negros who come 
here to work, and it is found that nine- 
ty-eight percent have malaria in their 



systems. These men are required to 
sleep behind wire screens, and the 
malaria rapidly disappears. The same 
experiment has been made with the 
laborers from other countries. The 
Spanish workmen who live in un- 
screened quarters get malaria. Those 
who are housed behind screens escape I 
it. Those who sleep in tents un- 
screened soon succumb to malaria. 

The health of the people on the 
Isthmus in the Canal zone is wonder- 



fully good. Upwards o£ seven thous- 
and Americans, including about one 
thousand five hundred women and 
children, are here, and no death has 
been reported for a year from disease. 
No government or no city ever made 
more intelligent and comprehensive 
arrangements for the health of its 
people than the United States has 
made for those who are to construct 
the Isthmian canal. The temperature 
here is lower than at many points in 



the United States. The thermometer 
has never registered 100 degrees 
while the official thermometer at the 
weather bureau in Washington city 
has recorded a heat of 104 degrees. 
What is needed here is sanitation and 
the proper observance of the laws of 
health, and these the authorities are 
insisting upon. The French failed 
largely for the lack of these precau- 
tions. We shall succeed more easily 
because we have taken them. 



History of the Canal Project 



Panama City, March 13. — This 
morning I saw the sun rise out of 
the Pacific ocean. Panama City is 
built upon a point of land which ex- 
tends southward into Panama Bay. 
On account of the geographical situa- 
tion the sun both rises from the Pa- 
cific and sets in the Pacific. The loca- 
tion is puzzling and it is some time 
before the sojourner can get the points 
of the compass. The sunrise was glor- 
ious. It is only a few minutes after 
old sol peeps above the horizon until 
he shines in all his splendor. The 
reflected light gives the appearance of 
two suns. 

The bay is very quiet at all times. 
Numerous islands protect the shores, 
and while the wind sometimes blows 



hard there is no sea. It is no wonder 
that Balboa, who was the first white 
man to look upon this ocean, called it 
the Pacific. It may be a misnomer as 
applying to the ocean as a whole, but 
this part of it is never visited by se- 
vere storms. 

This morning our party went to 
Culebra cut, where the Isthmian Canal 
is to pass through the mountain 
range, and unite the waters of the At- 
lantic and Pacific. We had a special 
train and every facility was given us 
for seeing the tremendous work which 
is going on. Before speaking speci- 
fically of the Culebra cut, it may be 
well to refresh the recollection of your 
readers with a few facts about the 
canal. 



The idea of cutting a canal across 
the Isthmus of Panama was conceiv- 
ed soon after its discovery, over four 
hundred years ago. The first survey 
was made in 1581. From that time to 
the present more than a dozen dif- 
ferent routes were examined, and in 
1881 the French began the work of 
constructing the canal between Limon 
Bay on the Atlantic and the Bay of 
Panama on the Pacific. The famous 
French promoter M de Lesseps, who 
built the Suez Canal, was in charge of 
the undertaking. When the French 
company failed, after expending over 
$250,000,000, the United States gov- 
ernment purchased its rights and title 
for $40,000,000. The length of the 
canal is fifty miles from deep water 



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on the Atlantic to deep water on the 
Pacific. Beginning at the Atlantic 
end it will be a sea level canal 1,000 
feet wide and 40 feet deep for a dis- 
tance of seven miles. Then by the 
construction of three enormous locks, 
each having a lift of 28% feet, ships 
will be raised to a height of 85 feet 
above the ocean. There they will en- 
ter Gatun lake, which is to be formed 
by building a dam 8,000 feet long, a 
half mile wide at the bottom and one 
hundred and thirty-five feet high. This 
lake will have an area of 110 square 
miles and will back the water for a 
distance of thirty-two miles through 
the great divide to the Pedro Miguel 
lock (or Peter Magill, as the boys here 
call it), on the Pacific side of the 
mountain; thence by Sosa lake deep 
water is extended for a distance of six 
miles to La Boca. The Peter Magill 
lock is to have a lift of thirty feet, and 
the two Sosa locks twenty-seven and a 
half feet each. From the Sosa locks 
a sea level channel is dredged a thous- 
and feet wide and 40 feet deep, for 
a distance of four miles. 

It is estimated that it will take a 
ship about twelve hours to pass 
through the canal. Each vessel will 
pay a toll of about $2.00 per ton. They 
can well afford to do this, as the con- 
struction of the canal will shorten the 
distance by water between New York 
and San Francisco over eight thousand 
miles. The saving in distance to all 



points on the Pacific will be in this 
proportion. 

The greatest achievement of the 
Americans on the Isthmus has been 
the permanent driving out of yellow 
fever. The Isthmus is today as safe a 
place to visit, as almost any part of the 
world. The sanitary regulations are 
better observed here than in many 
places in the United States. Mosqui- 
toes are scrupulously guarded against. 
Most of the houses have porches. 
These are screened; then the windows 
have screens, and in many cases mos- 
quito bars on the beds are used. These 
precautions have been effective, but 
are coming to be unnecessary, because 
there are no mosquitoes. I have not 
seen a mosquito since I have been here. 
Dr. Gorgas, who has charge of the 
health bureau on the Canal zone, tells 
me that he has drained every swamp 
near the line of the canal where the 
expense would not be too great. If 
the cost is prohibitive, he uses oil and 
the surface of all the swamps is sprink- 
led with the oleagenous fluid. His de- 
partment has used over two thousand 
barrels of California oil in this way. 
The pipe line extends clear across the 
Isthmus, within sight of the railroad 
and looks familiar to a visitor from 
Washington county. 

The word Culebra is pronounced as 
though spelled coolavra, the letter "b" 
having the sound of "v." Most of the 
natives give the "e" the sound of "a." 

— 7— 



The length of the cut through the 
range of hills is nine and a half 
miles. At the summit it will be 241 
feet deep. As the water will be forty 
feet deep the traveler on the ships go- 
ing through will look up the moun- 
tain side to the pinnacle 201 feet. The 
trip through the canal at this point 
in some respects will resemble the 
trip by the inland passage from Seat- 
tle to Alaska. The amount of exca- 
vation yet to be made in this cut is 
52,000,000 cubic yards. Last month 
639,000 yards were taken out and to- 
day 31,000. Great steam shovels are 
at work, each of which lifts five yards 
of earth and can raise from ten to 
fifteen tons of rock at a time. 

The Culebra cut is distinctively a 
railroad proposition. Given the time 
and the money there is no question 
as to the ability of the engineers to 
finsh the work successfully. The 
greatest difficulty is in the disposing 
of the material and it is this which 
leads to the estimate that it will take 
six or eight years. The engineers, 
foremen and all those in charge of 
the work are very enthusiastic and 
have no doubt of their ability to com- 
plete the job within the time they have 
set. Most of them think the United 
States got a great bargain in its pur- 
chase of the canal for $40,000,000. 
They speak well of the French and 
the work done by them. 

One of the entertaining persons I 



met on this trip was Judge Gudger, of 
the United States court for the Canal 
zone. This court is composed of three 
judges. They sit separately, and if an 
appeal is taken, en banc as a supreme 
court. They dispose of all cases, 
civil and criminal. No jury trials are 
held. This is said to be a great sav- 
ing in time. It is estimated that the 
courts transact their business in less 
than one-third the time taken in 
similar cases in the United States. 
The lawyers waste little time in ques- 
tioning witnesses, and even less in 
addressing the court. Yesterday 
Judge Gudger pronounced the death 
sentence on the first person to be con- 
victed of murder on the Canal zone. 
The case has been appealed and will 
go to the supreme court of the United 
States, which must determine wheth- 
er or not a prisoner can be convicted 
of a capital offense in the United 
States court without a jury trial. It 
will be an interesting argument, in- 
volving the question whether or not 
the constitution at all times fol- 
lows the flag. The right of trial by 
jury is one of our sacred institutions, 
for which English speaking people 
have been willing to lay down their 
lives. In the Canal zone, however, 
about half the old Columbian laws are 
in force. The native Panamans do 
not like the trial by jury, and prefer 
to be tried before a single judge. 
I had an interesting talk with G. R. 



Shanton, who is the Captain of Police, 
and also United States Marshall, Cor- 
oner and Warden of the Penitentiary. 
From him I learned that the average 
number of arrests per month were 
about six hundred. The estimated 
population of the Canal zone is now 
70,000. Every nationality on earth is 
represented. Considering this fact, 
the amount of crime is very small. 
The largest number of cases are forg- 
eries, principally in altering the time 
checks. Assault and battery cases 
come next, and then the violation of 
the sanitary regulations. Failure to 
observe the health laws is a serious 
offense here. If anyone throws slops 
upon the ground or in any way vio- 
lates the sanitary regulations, he is 
arrested and fined, and if the offense 
is repeated he is sent to jail. This 
vigilance accounts largely for the 
splendid health in the canal zone. I 
imagine the offenses of this kind are 
far fewer here than in the borough of 
Washington, which some are wont to 
regard as a model. C. M. Ruple, Esq., 
secretary of the board of health and 
Health Officer Carter have said that 
hundreds of the citizens of Washing- 
ton disregard the sanitary laws con- 
stantly. If such persons were arrest- 
ed and fined as they are here the 
borough treasury would be replenished 
rapidly. 

The Canal zone is a safe place in 
which to live and seems to be freer 

— 8— 



from serious crime than Washington 
county. During the past three years 
only ten homicides have occurred, and 
two cases of assault upon women. 
While I do not have the figures, I am 
sure that the records of the Washing- 
ton county court will show a greater 
number. The police are vigilant. 
They make the people live decently 
whether they wish to or not. At this 
time the penitentiary contains 100 
prisoners, a small number consider- 
ing the character of many of the com- 
mon laborers, who have come hither. 
The Canal zone's police force con- 
sists of 180 persons, 80 white men, 
and 100 blacks from Jamaica. The 
Jamacian negro, having lived under 
British rule, is a law abiding citizen, 
and makes a good officer. Each po- 
liceman must be at least five feet eight 
inches in height. The blacks are paid 
$40.00 per month and board, and the 
whites $75.00. After two years' ser- 
vice the whites receive $83.00 per 
month, and the ten sergeants $125.00 
per month. Under the management of 
Captain Shanton it is a model police 
force. The captain was for twenty 
years a cow boy in Wyoming. He saw 
service with Buffalo Bill. When the 
Spanish war broke out he was sheriff 
of the county in which he lived, and_ 
resigned to become an officer in the 
army. President Roosevelt knew of 
his qualities, and put him in charge of 
the police department here. He is 




Beautiful Palms and Road at Ancon Hospital. 



certainly the right man in the right 
place. 

This afternoon we visited the Ancon 
hospital. It is said to have the most 
beautiful location of any hospital in 
the world. Ancon is a volcanic moun- 
tain which rises for a height of 620 
feet from the sea. Its top is within a 
mile of Panama city. The French 
graded off the side of the mountain 
200 feet above the ocean, and formed 
a plateau on which the numerous hos- 
pital buildings were erected. The out- 
look from the hospital grounds is mag- 
nificent, and the cool breezes are al- 
ways in motion there. Extensive 
drives and walks have been laid which 
are amply protected from the torrent- 
ial rain fall by heavy stone water- 
tables and culverts. The entire ex- 
penditure for building and grounds is 
said to have been over $3,000,000. 
Some say $5,000,000 were expended, 
but the United States secured every- 
thing for $1,000,000. Some of the 
buildings have been remodeled and 
enlarged. 



A number of the patients who were 
spoken to were loud in their praises 
of the treatment they had received. 
A young man from Washington city, 
whose leg had been amputated, said 
he had been accorded every attention 
which could possibly have been given 
him at the national capital and con- 
gratulated himself that when misfor- 
tune came he was near what he con- 
sidered the best hospital of which he 
had knowledge. 

After visiting the splendid residence 
which was erected by the French en- 
gineer on the point of Ancon moun- 
tain, facing the Pacific, we went to the 
cemetery on the edge of the city, 
where it is claimed by some that the 
remains of Balboa were buried. This 
fact is questioned, however, and I 
have been unable to verify it. The 
discoverer of the Pacific seems to be 
the patron saint of Panama. His bust 
adorns all the money of the Republic 
and also ornaments its postage 
stamps. The story of his adventurous 
life, read when a boy, comes back to 



me amid the scenes of his great 
achievements. He escaped from his 
creditors in Spain, by being shipped 
to the West Indies in a cask. He 
was the best of the Spanish adven- 
turers who came to this country at 
the close of the fifteenth century. It 
was his lot to be beheaded at the be- 
hest of the worst of the many infam- 
ous Spanish governors who exploited 
this region. 

In one part of the old cemetery can 
be seen a pile of human skulls and 
bones where the bodies have been 
burned. The old Spanish custom is 
to rent a grave for eighteen months, 
and after that, unless considerable ad- 
ditional rent is paid, the bodies are 
disinterred and burned. I remember 
seeing a large pit in a corner of the 
beautiful graveyard in Havana, where 
hundreds of exhumed human bodies 
had been thrown. But since the Amer- 
icans came here this revolting man- 
ner of disposing of the dead has been 
abandoned. 




—9— 



Random Notes on Panama 



Ancon, Canal Zone, Panama, March 
14. — A few random notes on Panama, 
its people and what can be seen and 
heard here, may perhaps prove inter- 
esting to some of the readers of the 
Observer. 

Many inquiries have been made 
about positions under the Isthmian 
Canal Commission and the prospect of 
getting work here, by residents of 
Western Pennsylvania. After diligent 
inquiry one concludes that Panama is 
one of the best places to work in the 
world. No other location is more 
healthy and no place could be found 
in the tropics which is cooler than 
this. Certainly it would be difficult 
to discover another spot where sani- 
tary regulations are so strictly en- 
forced. The wages here are good. 
Most of the employes save money, 
perhaps because there is no way to 
waste It. Competent men can get po- 
sitions at from $125.00 to $175.00 per 
month. This includes those who are 
fitted to serve as sanitary inspectors, 
brakemen, dumpmen, foremen of gangs 
on the railroad work, time-keepers, 
camp foremen, hotel managers and po- 
sitions of that sort. A man can live 
in the company's quarters for $27.50 
per month for board. His rooms are 
furnished free. Single meals are 30c. 
Men who receive $75.00 per month are 



saving $45.00 of it. Others with fam- 
ilies, who get from $150.00 to $200.00 
per month, can live on $50.00. The 
employes with families, after they 
have served the commission for six 
months, get a house with light and 
fuel free. 

The Italian is highly esteemed as 
a common laborer. He is paid 20c an 
hour, while the negroes are only given 
10c an hour. The foremen say that 
the difference in efficiency is greater 
than that represented by the disparity 
of wages. One of the superintendents 
stated that he would rather have one 
Italian than six Jamaican negroes, or 
Panamans. Several hundred Span- 
iards have been imported, and they 
rank with the Italian laborers. 

Thousands of negroes have come 
here from Jamaica. Sometimes as 
many as three hundred arrive in one 
ship. The Jamaican negro, however, 
will not work more than three days 
in five. He can make enough in three 
days to live sumptuously. Many of 
them go off into the jungle and build 
shacks of their own, instead of oc- 
cupying the Company houses. If 
they do not wish to work they can pick 
a living off of the trees. Oranges, 
bananas and sweet potatoes can be 
gathered in abundance. The sweet po- 
tatoes are a kind of a yam and are 

—10- 



very palatable. Some negroes follow 
fishing for a livelihood. In the olden 
times they had to fish about five days 
in the week to make a living. Since 
the Americans began work on the 
canal, prices have advanced and they 
get so much more for their catch that 
they will not fish more than three days 
in the week. 

The Chinese are becoming the gard- 
eners of Panama. They have the in- 
dustry and give the growing vege- 
tables the constant attention which is 
necessary for success. The Chinese 
are spoken of here as the Dutchmen 
of Panama. They raise a surprising 
amount of garden truck on a small 
patch, and they get good prices for it. 

The old residents are vegetarians to 
a great extent. They eat fruit, veg- 
etables and fish, avoiding the cold stor- 
age meats which come from the United 
States. 

A University club has been formed 
in Panama City, and it has over two 
hundred members. An old residence 
has been rented and fitted up as a club 
house. The walls are ornamented with 
the colors of most of the prominent 
colleges of the United States. The 
members of the various Greek letter 
fraternities have organized Panama 
associations and are connected with 
the University club. Eight members 



of Beta Theta PI are connected with 
the club and other "frats" are as well 
represented. 

If you wish to ascertain exactly how 
hot it is you have difficulty in finding 
a thermometer. The weather varies 
so little that no interest is exhibited in 
the rise and fall of the mercury. The 
thermometer has ranged from 74 to 
85 degrees Fahrenheit, and this is 
about the average the year around. 
One day is so much like another that 
no one speaks of it. There is no sale 
for thermometers and the weather liar 
has no show whatever. 

The beautiful lignum vitae trees with 
their yellow tops can be seen on the 
mountains, and give the landscape a 
picturesque beauty. As this is about 
the middle of the dry season, the coun- 
try is somewhat parched and brown. 
The lignum vitae trees stand out most 
prominently on the hill tops. The 
wood of this tree is the hardest and 
can scarcely be cut with the ordinary 
tools. Some of the old ties of the Pan- 
ama railroad are being sawed into 
pieces to make canes, ink-stands, and 
other articles. 

The currency of Panama is the Bal- 
boa or dollar, half Balboa, twenty cent, 
and ten cent piece. This money has 
only half the purchasing power of the 
American silver. The Americans call 
it Monkey or Spigoti money. The 
term Spigoti is an abbreviation of the 
Panaman "No speak English." A 



nickle was coined for sometime, but 
its coinage has been discontinued and 
nickles now bring 20c in "Monkey 
money" apiece. The ladies are mak- 
ing bracelets and the gentlemen watch 
chains of the Panaman nickle piece, 
which is becoming quite scarce. 

About $2,000,000 per month are be- 
ing paid out in the Canal Zone to em- 
ployes. A large portion of this is sent 
back to the United States and to the 
West Indies. An average of 115,000 
dollars in Postoffice money orders are 
sent away each week. Among the em- 
ployes are many negroes from Bar- 
badoes. A curious circumstance re- 
cently was that so many money or- 
ders from Panama reached the Bar- 
badoes that it was necessary to call 
the legislature together to supply the 
deficiency of $10,000, caused by cash- 
ing postoffice orders from the Canal 
Zone. 

The Panama government receives 
forty per cent of the postoffice rev- 
enus of the Canal Zone, and the whole 
amount is practically clear money. 
Panama has been handsomely treated 
by the United States, but many of its 
people do not appreciate what has 
been done for them. When Uncle 
Sam came here the city of Panama 
was a dirty hole with unpaved streets, 
uneven sidewalks and no sewage sys- 
tem. Our government put in a com- 
plete sewer system, built a reservoir 
and supplied the town with an abund- 

—11— 



ance of fresh water, and paved the 
streets with fire brick. It also clean- 
ed up the premises around private 
houses and in some cases removed a 
carload of filth from a lot not more 
than twenty or thirty feet squarer Be- 
fore the Americans came water was 
hauled into town in carts and sold. 
Now good water is furnished through 
pipes. Yet three weeks after these 
improvements were completed and the 
streets paved at the expense of Uncle 
Sam, the local newspaper wanted to 
know why the Americans did not 
sprinkle the streets. 

The work of the Young Men's Chris- 
tian Association in the Canal Zone is 
in charge of A. Bruce Minear, who 
represents the International commit- 
tee. Excellent work is being done un- 
der his direction. On the steamer 
"Panama" coming down I met Wm. H. 
Baxley, who is to manage the Associa- 
tion building at Culebra. For several 
years past he has been superintend- 
ent of the Association work at the 
Twenty-third St. branch in New York 
City. Having proven his capacity 
there he was selected for superintend- 
ent of the Culebra branch. Our party 
visited the new Y. M. C. A. building at 
Gorgona and found it admirably adapt- 
ed to its purpose. The rooms are 
large and well arranged, and the build- 
ing itself very attractive. A large 
room has been provided for dancing. 
One of the young men stated that at 



some of the dances more girls were in 
attendance than boys, which is rather 
surprising. The nights are always 
cool, and dancing is pleasant. 

To illustrate the rapidity with which 
the work on the canal is now going for- 
ward, it may be stated that under the 
French regime the largest record for 
excavation in the Culebra Cut in any 
month was 220,000 cubic yards. Dur- 
ing February last 639,112 cubic yards 
were taken out. The average is in- 
creasing almost daily. To-day the total 
was over 33,000 yards. The amount 
excavated in February equalled the 
number of cubic yards contained in 
the National capitol at Washington. 
The day President Roosevelt was here 
7,000 cubic yards were excavated in 
the cut, and it was claimed at that 
time by critics of the enterprise that 
this was an exceptionally high record, 
and that everybody was hustling to 
make a good impression on the presi- 
dent. Yet to-day almost five times as 
much earth and rock were taken out 
of the great cut as the day Roosevelt 
visited it. 

The railroad fare across the Ithmus 
is now $2.40 first-class or less than 
one-tenth what it was in the old days 
of the California gold excitement. 
Among the early gold seekers in Cali- 
fornia were a number of residents of 
Washington county, who crossed the 
Isthmus on foot. I think James W. 
Kuntz was one of these. Daniel 



Hodgens, of West Midletown rode 
across on a mule in 1854, before the 
railroad was completed. 

U. S. Consul Shanklin receives many 
inquiries from the United States about 
lands. Judging from the stack of let- 
ters on his desk on that subject, many 
persons contemplate investing in real 
estate in Panama. The chief draw- 
back to this has been that the land 
laws are very defective, and good ti- 
tles cannot readily be secured. To 
meet this situation the president has 
called a special session of congress, 
which is to pass only upon this ques- 
tion. It is proposed to adopt some 
system for the sale of lands, by which 
the Republic of Panama will guaran- 
tee the title. Immigration is to be 
encouraged and an effort made to de- 
velop the resources of the Interior. 
The area of Panama is 31,570 sq. miles, 
or not quite three-fourth that of Penn- 
sylvania. It is estimated that only 
three or four per cent of the soil is 
cultivated. Of course a large part is 
used for grazing, but at least one- 
half the territory is unoccupied. The 
land is wonderfully fertile and all 
sorts of tropical fruits and vegetables 
thrive here. The rains are exceed- 
ingly heavy. During the wet season 
you may go riding through the coun- 
try on horse back in the morning and 
cross many streams which are almost 
dry. When you come back In the af- 
ternoon you may have to swim your 

—12— 



horse across a raging torrent, fifteen 
feet deep. A resident of the temperate 
zone can have no conception of the 
great waterfall. For this reason a na- 
tive avoids the low ground. Most of 
the huts are built on the knolls. If 
you meet a native going to work, arm- 
ed with his machete, he will say he is 
going to his mountain instead of his 
farm or garden patch. 

While the railroad across the Isth- 
mus is the only one in the Republic, 
the telegraph and telephone systems 
are fairly good and cover the country 
pretty well. Panama is almost five 
hundred miles in length and most of 
its towns can only be reached by boat, 
either on the Atlantic or the Pacific 
coast, but you can communicate read- 
ily with all the important towns over 
the wires. 

The native Panaman is small of 
stature. He has used liquor to excess, 
and as a result after several genera- 
tions his physical power of resistence 
is very low. He is kindly, affection- 
ate and good to his family. In a total 
population of 340,000 it is estimated 
that not more than ten per cent are 
responsible citizens, and not over five 
percent are educated. About five per 
cent of the population is white, and 
about ten per cent Indian. Of the re- 
maining eighty-five per cent probably 
the proportion of mixed blood is twen- 
ty per cent white, forty per cent In- 
dian and forty per cent negro. These 



\ 



are the figures given by some of the 
Americans who have been on the 
Isthmus for years and have made care- 
ful inquiry. The native Panaman 
is indolent, and without ambition to 
accumulate property. He is satisfied 
to live from day to day on the fruits 
which nature provides. It has been 
said that he can get along by swing- 
ing in a hammock, rocking it with his 
toe and picking bananas with his 
hands. While a large percentage of 
the births are classed as illegitimate, 
it cannot be said that the Panaman- 
ians are immoral; rather they are un- 
moral. They are accustomed to the 
common law marriage. In many sec- 
tions of the county priests are inacces- 
sible, and for years the marriage fees 
were so high that the natives would 
have to work for months before they 
could earn enough to pay for having 
a ceremony performed. Even now the 
civil authorities authorized to solem- 
nize these marriages are often many 
miles away, and through centuries of 
indifference to the necessity of such 
marriage, the natives have become 
careless. Men and women live to- 
gether all their lives as husband and 
wife, and are true to each other, and 
yet no formal marriage ceremony has 
ever been performed. 

As a result of the revolution and the 
erection of the Republic of Panama the 
private monopolies have been abolish- 
ed. Formerly it was the custom of the 



Columbian government to grant mo- 
nopolies to one man to sell liquor, to- 
bacco, salt or any necessity. A way 
was found to do this by whipping the 
devil around the stump. The import 
duty on a certain article would be 
fixed at a very high figure, and then 
some favored individual was given a 
concession to import that article free. 
The lottery is still in operation, be- 
cause it has a vested concession, 
which does not expire until 1912. This 
concession will not be renewed. 

Our ideas of geography are freshen- 
ed up and made more definite by a 
visit to Panama. Here on the Pacific 
coast we find the mail for San Fran- 
cisco being sent by way of New York. 
Going thus, it reaches its destination 
in twelve days, while it takes from 
twenty-two to twenty-eight days to go 
to San Francisco by the steamship on 
the Pacific. 

The Canal Commission during the 
month of February furnished a million 
meals to its employes. Each employe 
must have a card before entering the 
dining room, showing that he worked 
nine hours during the previous day. 
He pays 30c for each meal. 

While the liberal treatment accord- 
ed Panama by the United States gov- 
ernment is not appreciated, it has had 
a good effect in all the countries of 
South America. The people of those 
countries are looking to the United 
States as their guide and friend. Mr. 

—13— 



F. A. Pezet the Peruvian minister, tells 
me that over two hundred young men 
from Peru are now attending college in 
the United States. He says many 
more would be glad to get an educa- 
tion in our colleges, if they could af- 
ford to pay the fare to North America. 
The Isthmian Canal Commission gives 
a special rate of $25.00 to students of 
Panama who wish to go to New York 
on their steamers. The students from 
other South American countries must 
pay the regular fare of $90.00. If the 
$25.00 rate could be secured, and a 
similar rate on the steamship lines 
along the western coast of South 
America, Mr. Pezet believes that fully 
a thousand Peruvian boys would go to 
the United States each year to secure 
a liberal education. 

At Empire on the line of the canal, 
I met William Fox, whose family re- 
sides on East Maiden street. He has 
been here for twenty-five months and 
is now working as a blacksmith. Dur- 
ing the first year, before the sanitary 
regulations were enforced, he was ill 
several times but since last December 
a year, has been in perfect health. Mr. 
Fox is eligible to membership in the 
society of the "Tropical Tramps; ' as 
the Americans call themselves, after 
they have been in the Tropics for two 
years. The president is credited with 
having suggested that all the employes 
who have stuck to their work for two 
years without going back to the 



states, be given a button of honor. He 
regards the men building the canal, 
as -composing an army, similar to that 
which fought the battles of the Civil 
war. Many of them have enlisted for 
the campaign and propose to stick by 
the job until the canal is finished. 
The president feels that all those who 
stay in the tropics for two years 
should have special recognition. Mr. 
Fox has already earned this distinc- 
tion. 

Balboa and Bolivar are the patron 
saints of this region. They both 
achieved lasting fame by great deeds. 



It was in 1513 that Balboa looked out 
from one of these mountain tops on the 
Pacific and laid claim to all the land 
washed by its waters in the name of 
the King of Spain. It was Simon Boli- 
var who three centuries later led the 
South American Provinces to liberty. 
It was in 1826 that Bolivar called the 
first American Peace Conference to 
meet at Panama. It is noteworthy that 
the United States discouraged this 
movement, because the slave-holders 
feared a declaration against their 
cherished institution. More than a 
half century after Bolivar's attempt 



to secure co-operation between all the 
American countries, a permanent Pan- 
American congress was successfully 
established by that illustrious son of 
Washington county, James G-. Blaine. 
Bolivar's idea grows as the years pass, 
and to-day one hears more of the un- 
ion of American countries, than at any 
time in the past. Only to-day a most 
intelligent observer of South Ameri- 
can affairs, and a patriotic citizen of 
one of its Republics, declared his be- 
lief in the early union of all the coun- 
tries of South America. It will be a 
glorious day when this is accomplished 



Mosquitoes on the Isthmus 



/ 



Ancon, Canal Zone, Panama, March 
]5. — The mosquito is always an inter- 
esting subject of conversation on the 
Isthmus. To it is rightly attributed 
the transmission of the deadly and 
disabling diseases, yellow fever and 
malaria. Different species of mos- 
quitoes spread different diseases. The 
yellow fever mosquito has his own 
breeding ground which he prefers. If 
the number of these pests increases 
suddenly the health officers know 
where to go. They can tell a yellow 
fever mosquito at a distance of six 
feet by the black and white stripes 
on his legs. They generally rest on 



a dark object so they can not be seen 
so readily. If one has on a dark coat 
and light trousers the mosquitoes will 
light on the coat. If the person is 
awake they will bite on the wrists or 
shins and then move instantly before 
he can hit them. 

The yellow fever mosquito is harm- 
less unless he has been infected by 
biting some one who has the fever. 
There is no risk in being bitten unless 
yellow fever is in the neighborhood. 
A light case of yellow fever may 
spread the deadly contagion and re- 
sult in many deaths if the patient is 
not isolated. 

—14— 



A peculiarity of the yellow fever 
mosquito is that it stands perpedic- 
ular to the surface of the wall or ceil- 
ing and is therefore hard to see. All 
other varieties of mosquitoes and in- 
sects in general hold the body par- 
allel to the resting surface. Observa- 
tion of mosquitoes confined in glass 
cases shows that the female must have 
a drink of blood before she will lay 
eggs. 

The health officers can locate their 
breeding places as readily as a boy 
can find a bird's nest. Their favorite 
haunts are low lands covered with 
water, possibly only a half inch deep. 



They also breed around deeper water. 
A female mosquito will lay 200 eggs. 
A fish an inch long will eat 30 such 
larvae. 

It is a mystery why some persons 
are immune from the yellow fever 
mosquito. The Jamaican negroes are 
remarkably free from it. A series of 
experiments with sixteen mosquitoes 
confined in a net showed that all 
would bite the hand of a white man 
which was stuck into the net. Some- 
tlimes one mosquito would bit thei 
hand of a colored man, but usually 
none of them would touch it. One 
theory is that as yellow fever was per- 
ennial in Jamaica for centuries all the 
ancestors of the present generation 
who were susceptible to the fever had 
it and the descendants are immune. 
The medical name of the yellow fever 
mosquito is Stegomia. The last case 
of fever in the Canal Zone was in 
September, 1905, eighteen months ago. 

The retail trade of the Canal Zone 
is almost exclusively in the hands of 
the Chinese. They keep all the stores. 
As the government has discon- 
tinued the coinage of the nickel or 
one-twentieth of a Balboa, the smallest 
coin is one-tenth of a Balboa or ten 
cent piece. Curiously enough a plug 
of tobacco is used in making change 
where the amount is a nickel. The 
Chinese used to sell large quantities 
of liquor and used dope freely there- 



in. Now the board of health analyses 
all liquors sold. 

Sosa and La Boca Dams. 

Today our party visited La Boca and 
examined the sites of the Sosa and 
La Boca dams. These two dams will 
make Sosa lake, which will have an 
area of eight square miles. Sosa hill 
is an isolated peak of volcanic forma- 
tion 350 feet high. The Sosa dam ex- 
tends for a mile north of and the La 
Boca dam west from Sosa hill. The 
Sosa dam will be eighty feet high, 
a quarter of a mile wide at the base, 
a mile long and will contain about 
5,000,000 cubic yards of earth and rock. 
The engineers say it can be built in 
one year. 

The La Boca dam will be a mile 
and one-eighth in length and will con- 
tain about 6,000,000 cubic yards. The 
material for it will be dredged from 
the channel which will extend from 
the locks to deep water. This ma- 
terial will be lifted by the hydraulic 
method and it will take three years to 
do the work. The material for the 
construction of the Sosa dam is being 
brought from the Culebra cut. The 
two Sosa locks will have a lift of 
32% feet each. The channel to deep 
water will be one thousand feet wide 
and forty feet deep. The area of the 
Rio Grande valley which will drain 
into Sosa lake is 15 square miles, about 
half of which will be covered by water. 
The spillway is to be west of the hills 

—15— 



beyond the La Boca dam through a 
natural depression in the range of 
hills. 

The saying that gray hairs are due 
to early piety is familiar. At Gatun 
[ heard the Spanish version which is 
that they come from sitting too long 
in damp churches. In many towns in 
the tropics the churches with their 
thick adobe walls are the coolest plac- 
es to be found and in the noon hours 
attract some worshippers who are not 
particularly noted for piety. 

Laborers Well Cared For. 

The common laborers on the Canal 
zone are as well treated as the bosses 
and foremen. Every man gets good 
meals of healthful food and has a com- 
fortable bed. He also has a chance 
to take a bath whenever he wishes 
without charge. The quarters are ar- 
ranged so that each man has his own 
shower bath and his own hook for 
clothes. 

When the French were digging the 
canal the death rate from smallpox 
was as high as 80 per month. No case 
of smallpox has been reported in the 
zone for three years past, while it 
may be said to have been epidemic 
when the French were in control. It 
was among the troops at the time of 
the Revolution. American vigilance 
and energy have stamped it out. 

The 18 public schools in the Canal 
zone which are in charge of Ameri- 
can teachers are very successful. The 



pupils are children of the laborers who 
are of many races and nationalities 
and of the natives who reside in the 
zone. Education is compulsory. The 
digging of the canal is helping to 
spread the English language and to 
hasten the day when it will become 
the universal language of mankind. 

About 750 tons of soft coal are used 
on the Canal zone daily. It comes 
from the Pocahontas, W. Va., field via 
Norfolk. Pittsburg coal should be put 
down at New Orleans via the Ohio 
river cheaper than Pocahontas coal 
can be delivered by rail at Norfolk. 
The coal operators of Western Penn- 
sylvania should aim to supply all the 
bituminous coal used in this region. 

Panama has had rather a checker- 
ed political career. After Bolivar 
achieved independence for the Span- 
ish nations of South America, it be- 
came a state of New Granada, then 
it was for several years independent, 
and afterwards joined its fortunes with 
Colombia as a separate state. Fin- 
ally it declared its independence on 
November, 4, 1903, after the Colom- 
bian congress had refused to ratify 
the treaty giving the United States 
the right to construct the canal. 
French Did Good Work. 

Again and again one hears the 
work of the French comiplimented. 
Those who have had abundant oppor- 
tunity to judge as to the character 
of the work say that it was first class. 



There was graft at Paris and extrav- 
agance at Panama. Much of the 
French machinery is out of date and 
worthless. This is not surprising. 
Every manufacturer has this exper- 
ience. Old methods must be discard- 
ed and the most improved modern 
machinery installed by those who wish 
to keep in the race for industrial su- 
premacy. 

American manufacturers have out- 
stripped their European competitors 
because they are always ready to 
throw out the best machine in use if 
a better one is invented. They do 
not hesitate at the los incurred on 
old machines if new ones will do the 
same work quicker and better. 

It is said that it was Tom Scott, the 
first president of the Pennsylvania 
railroad, who found that it was cheap- 
er to burn the cars after a bad wreck 
than incur the loss from delay by 
blocking the tracks while trying to 
save the cars. What he did was de- 
nounced at the time as reckless ex- 
travagance. What seems like waste 
is sometimes true economy. Our gov- 
ernment is wise in employing only the 
most improved machinery in digging 
the canal and the French machines 
of two decades ago are out of date. 

Ice is a necessity on the Canal zone 
and the factory installed by the com- 
mission is now turning out an abund- 
ant supply. Before this plant was 
put into operation ice sold at ten cents 

—16— 



per pound. Now it can be bought at 
60 cents per hundred pounds. 

The import duties of Panama are 
ten per cent ad valorem on most ar- 
ticles. The tariff on cattle imported 
is $20 per head. A tax of $4 per head 
is imposed on all cattle slaughtered. 
The duty on sugar is 4 and 15-16 cents 
per pound or virtually prohibitive. 
This was imposed with a view of in- 
creasing the production of rum. You 
can purchase four glasses of rum now 
for 5 cents American money, so it is 
an easy matter to get drunk. 

The Panamans have been rum drink- 
ers for 400 years and their physical 
deterioration has been steady. More 
rum and cheaper rum will render them 
less capable of holding their own in 
the conflict of races which are sub- 
duing the earth. 

Policemen Very Numerous. 

Policemen are so numerous in Colon 
and Panama city that you can scarce- 
ly walk 100 feet without meeting one. 
They are gorgeously arrayed in uni- 
forms which are conspicuous for gold 
lace. The two towns have 964 police- 
men although Colon is credited with 
only 10,000 population and Panama 
with 25,000. Each town has an area 
of about one square mile and each 
is surrounded by the territory ceded 
to the United States and constituting 
the Canal zone. 

The policemen are nearly all native 
Panamans. They really constitute the 



standing army of Panama. Whenever 
an ambitious politician becomes formi- 
dable to the government he is given a 
job on the police force. The police- 
men are paid $40 per month in gold, 
so that Panama has an annual bill 
of $462,720 for police protection for 
these two towns. 

It is safe to assert that 50 able 
"bodied Americans could preserve the 
peace better and constitute a more 
efficient and satisfactory force. The 
policemen are usually small in stat- 
ure and insignificant in appearance. 
One of our burly Irish officers could 
handle several of them in a rough 
and tumble fight. 

If any serious trouble occurs on 
the isthmus it is likely to come 
through the offlciousness and lack of 
discretion of these Panama police. 
They are proud of their position and 
eager to show their authority. Sev- 
eral incidents have occurred which 
have been very aggravating to Ameri- 
cans. The police construe their rules 
strictly and do not appear to have 
capacity to distinguish between will- 
ful and persistent violations of the 
law and accidental or petty infractions 
of it. Most of the sidewalks are nar- 
row, three or four feet only in width, 
and a pedestrian is not allowed to 
loiter or stand with an umbrella up 
when the streets are crowded. 

The wife of an American happened 
to stop one day for a moment to look 



at the goods displayed in the show 
window of a store, when a policeman 
stepped up, grabbed her umbrella, 
lowered it, and ordered her imperious- 
ly to move on. She resented his im- 
pudence with spirit. 

Another rule is that any one who 
lays hands on an officer is guilty of 
assault. On one occasion recently a 
naval officer went ashore at Panama 
and wishing to make some inquiries, 
went to the polioe. He found several 
members of the force on a street cor- 
ner conversing together. He stepped 
up to the party and spoke, but was not 
answered. To attract the attention of 
the leader of the party, who was a 
sergeant of police, he laid his hand on 
his shoulder. Immediately one of the 
officers knocked him down with his 
mace and when he tried to rise and 
resisted, the others pounded him se- 
verely. Of course an investigation 
followed. The Americans insisted that 
the policemen be discharged but they 
were let off with a fine of $25 in gold. 

It is such occurrences as these 
which cause friction and may lead to 
a serious outbreak. They prove that 
most of the Panamans are not fit to 
hold places of authority. They are 
domineering and anxious to display 
their authority. It would not be sur- 
prising if their ill treatment of an 
American one of these fine days re- 
sults in such an ebullition as will stir 
the isthmus to the core. Lincoln said 

—17— 



our country could not exist half free 
and half slave. Likewise many Ameri- 
cans believe that work cannot go on 
smoothly and successfully for the next 
decade with a division of authority in 
police matters between Americans and 
Panamans. 

Panama Elections a Farce. 

The elections are dominated by the 
police and are generally regarded as 
a farce. The administration has en- 
tire control of the electoral machin- 
ery and it always wins. Two political 
parties are in existence, best describ- 
ed as "the ins" and "the outs." "The 
ins" control the registry of voters and 
enroll all who can be counted on to 
support their side; the others can look 
out for themselves. The police man- 
age the elections and take the ballot 
box to every man who will vote right. 
It is alleged that at the last election 
450 policemen in Panama city voted 
in every precinct and thus demonstrat- 
ed their devotion to the government. 
Liquor a Curse to Isthmus. 

While the congress has forbidden 
the sale of intoxicating liquors in gov- 
ernment buildings, immigrant sta- 
tions, and in soldiers' and sailors' 
homes, Uncle Sam is in the liquor 
business all right in the Canal zone. 
High license prevails. Liquor is sold 
at retail at about fifteen of the Unit- 
ed States restaurants and at the 
Tivoli hotel at Ancon and the Wash- 
ington hotel at Colon, which are run 



by the Isthmian Canal commission for 
the accommodation of its employes 
and transient visitors. You cannot 
buy liquor at the government refriger- 
ator from which the hotel bars and 
restaurants are supplied. The license 
fee is $100 in gold per month. 

Under the French regime liquors 
were sold freely and this policy ac- 
counts partly for the demoralization 
which characterized that period. Only 
five per cent as many places where 
liquor is sold are in existence today 
as were under the French. Still there 
seems to be no excuse for the exist- 
ence of any licensed liquor saloon. 
Every one agrees that the use of 
alcoholic drinks in the tropics is dan- 
gerous and debilitating. Four cen- 
turies of practically free rum have 
ruined the • native races and pulled 
their conquerors down to even a low- 
er level. 

The United States should not count- 
enance the sale of intoxicating liquors 
on any territory in the tropics over 
which it has supreme authority. The 
Isthmian Canal commission is the 
creature of the president who has 
been given absolute control over the 
vast project of digging the canal. By 
his order the sale of liquor can be 
stopped and he should make that or- 
der at once to protect our young men 
who are at work on the canal and as 
an example to the representatives of 
the numerous races who are employed 



in the great undertaking and who 
have suffered and been debased by 
the legalized reign of rum. We should 
strive to elevate these poor people and 
not drag them down to lower levels 
by furnishing them with intoxicating 
liquors which deblitate and destroy 
ambition, energy and enterprise. 
Guarding Water Supply. 

The importance of maintaining an 
adequate supply of pure water is 
keenly appreciated. Health officers 
patrol the reservoir sites day and 
night and the entire watershed sup- 
plying each reservoir is closely watch- 
ed. No one can cross a water reser- 
voir unless he is escorted by an of- 
ficer. The diseases thus carefully 
guarded against are diarrhoea and ty- 
phoid fever. So rigid is this protec- 
tion that the Canal zone with its tens 
of thousands of laborers has fewer 
cases of typhoid than the small vil- 
lages in Washington county. 

In the Pavaiso district which now 
has 3,800 population and had 800 two 
and a half years ago, only four cases 
of typhoid have occurred in that time. 
Yet it takes only two guards on horse- 
back, one on duty during the day and 
the other during the night, to protect 
its reservoir, Rio Grande No. 2, from 
contamination. If the water could be 
filtered through sand perhaps this 
rigid inspection could be dispensed 
with. 

The Americans on the isthmus get 

—18— 



heartily tired of cold storage meats. 
So it happens that a live chicken on 
the Canal zone will bring $2.50 mon- 
key money, while 50 cents is consid- 
ered a good price back in the country. 
Fresh fish can be had although the 
supply is not equal to the demand. 
The Caribbean sea and Panama bay 
abound in fine fish, but the prices 
have gone up so the fisherman will 
not work steadily. They care only 
for enough money to supply the wants 
of the day and have no ambition to 
accumulate. Turtles weighing from 
400 to 600 pounds can be taken near 
Colon and turtle soup is served in the 
restaurants daily. 

Canal a Godsend to Natives. 

The digging of the canal has proven 
a godsend to the inhabitants of the 
overpopulated islands of the West 
Indies. This is especially the case 
with the Barbadoes, where the popu- 
lation is nearly 1,100 to the square 
mile or over twice that of any country 
in Europe or of any state in our 
Union. 

The English steamer Solent, Royal 
Mail line, makes three trips every 
month between Bridgetown and Colon 
and each time brings 1,500 Barbadon- 
ians as contract laborers to work on 
the canal. Thus the most densely in- 
habitated island in the world is afford- 
ed relief by the enterprise of our 
country -in resolving to connect the 
waters of the two great oceans. 



Old Mother Isthmus does not worry 
so much about this influx as many 
good people in the United States do 
about the character of the European 
immigration which is vastly superior. 
The Barbadonians speak English and 
are accustomed to observe the law 
but are indolent and not fond of 
steady work. 

Many of these laborers want to work 
only with new tools. Some of the 
gangs rebelled against using the old 
French picks, so the foreman hit on 
a happy expedient and dipped all the 
picks in tar so all have the same ap- 
pearance. 

It is not laborers only who kick 
at times against what they believe is 
unfair treatment. It is related that 
a supply of fine grape-fruit intended 
for the Hotel Tivoli was by mistake 
delivered at one of the boarding hous- 
es on the Canal zone instead of or- 
anges, which had been ordered. The 
first American boarder who came in 
to breakfast was not familiar with the 
delicious fruit and threw it at the 
waiter's head for serving him a sour 
orange. Other boarders followed 
with complaints until assured how the 
grape-fruit was esteemed as an appe- 
tizer for breakfast. Which recalls the 



old saying about casting pearls be- 
fore swine. 

Few cases of malaria are reported 
now, but the hunt for the hiding place 
of the malaria carrying mosquito goes 
on so steadily as to make life a bur- 
den for that industrious little insect. 
Every patient with malaria is closely 
confined behind screens for a fatal 
case may result from the contagion 
carried by a mosquito from a patient 
who has suffered from a very light 
attack. For this reason the persons 
with malaria are sent to the hospital 
and isolated. 

Naturalized Americans Troublesome. 

The only persons on the zone who 
make any trouble are the naturalized 
American citizens. Some of these 
came here to exploit the people and 
do not relish the restrictions imposed 
by the commission. They talk about 
their rights as American citizens be- 
ing infringed. They do not distinguish 
between liberty and license. They 
purchased citizenship and did not in- 
herit it, so would have a government 
of which they can simply make use, 
and which will permit them to pro- 
ceed in any way they choose to make 
money. 



The Canal zone, a strip ten miles 
wide from sea to sea, has an area of 
nearly 300,000 acres. The Gatun and 
Sosa lakes will cover about 75,000 
acres, and the canal, locks and rail- 
road which is to be rebuilt on a new 
line, will occupy about 50,000 acres. 
This will leave 175,000 acres which 
belong to the United States and which 
are exceedingly fertile. Nearly all this 
land could be cultivated and after the 
completion of the canal, doubtless 
will be. Gatun lake will be a beautiful 
sheet of water with attractive islands. 
Already it is predicted that when the 
canal is completed these will be sites 
for winter hotels. 

The land in the zone is susceptible 
to high cultivation if given as much 
attention as the Chinese gardeners 
now give it. It will grow tropical 
fruits the year round, and when ques- 
tioned, the Chinese gardener at the 
Tivoli said he had good success with 
all the vegetables of the temperate 
zone except celery. Two crops of rice 
can be raised every year. Those who 
raise fruits and vegetables in the zone 
should find a ready market -even after 
the canal is finished, by supplying the 
ships which will pass through. 



' 



-19- 




Congressional Party on the Ancient Bridge on the Road to Old Panama. 



Old Panama and the Pirate Morgan 



Colon, Panama, March 18. — A visit 
to the ruins of Old Panama was one of 
the delightful features of this memor- 
able trip. The old city was located 
about seven miles north-east of the 
present Panama and its ruins well re- 
pay the traveler for the toilsome trip. 
The route for four miles is over a mag- 
nificent macadamized highway built 
by the Canal Commissioners through 
Zone territory; thence over a wagon 
road, rough and seldom used, for a 
mile and a half to a point where ve- 
hicles must be left and the remaining 
distance traversed on foot or on horse- 
back. About a mile of the last stretch 
is along the beach of Panama bay. Al- 
together it is a charming and roman- 
tic route. 

The city of Old Panama was found- 
ed by the Spaniards in 1521, only eight 
years after Balboa discovered the 
Pacific ocean. A road was constructed 
across the isthmus wide enough to ac- 
commodate two carts abreast. The 
building of this road was a difficult 
task as much of the route was through 
swamps and over mountains. When it 
was completed Old Panama became a 
place of great importance and for one 
hundred and fifty years was famous 
throughout Europe. It was called the 
Key to the Pacific and the Gate of the 
Universe. Fabulous treasure came to 



Panama en route to Porto Bello where 
it was shipped to Spain. It is said to 
have been a beautiful city and the 
•picturesque situation, with tree lined 
coast, with wide Savanna back of it 
and the mountain peaks in the dis- 
tance make it easy for the imagina- 
tion to picture "Panama the Golden," 
whose wealth and voluptuous luxury 
attracted the fierce buccaneers of the 
Seventeenth century. 

When at the heighth of its glory Old 
Panama is said to have had a popula- 
tion of over 20,000, with 12,000 build 
ings, palatial public structures, eight 
monasteries, a splendid hospital, and 
many magnificent private mansions 
built of stone or aromatic cedar. It 
was the wealth of this beautiful city 
which excited the cupidity of the reck- 
less freebooters of the West Indies. 
Henry Morgan, an adventurous priv- 
ateer, a native of Wales, planned the 
expedition against Panama. This dar- 
ing ruffian was one of the most de- 
praved and brutal buccaneers of that 
period made infamous by the crimes 
of desperate cutthroats ready to face 
any danger for plunder and rapine. 

It was in 1671 that Morgan and his 
band of 2,000 buccaneers left the West 
Indies in 37 ships, captured Porto 
Bello, reduced the castle at the mouth 
of the Chagres river murdering nearly 

—20— 



300 of the garrison, and marched 
across the Isthmus against Panama. 
The pillage of that beautiful city is 
one of the darkest pictures in the his- 
tory of our western world. Men and 
children were murdered, women out- 
raged, houses and churches plunder- 
ed. It was a revolting carnival of 
crime. For days the buccaneers revel- 
ed in the license of lust and loot 
which characterized their conduct on 
such occasions. After their demoniac 
debauch the pirates put the torch to 
the town and entirely destroyed most 
of its buildings. The reign of hor- 
ror during the sack of Panama was 
indescribable. Some of the inhabi- 
tants escaped by fleeing to the moun- 
tains, while others put to sea in ves- 
sels ladened with valuables. 

In approaching Old Panama we 
crossed an arched stone bridge, built 
without mortar, which has been stand- 
ing nearly 400 years. Mr. Hallan, the 
enterprising photographer, took a pic- 
ture of our party when gathered upon 
the bridge and again when we assem- 
bled in the ruins of the old church 
with its tree covered walls as a back- 
ground. These walls are fully 30 feet 
in height and four feet thick. Great 
trees are growing upon thejr tops, the 
roots extending down into the ground. 
It is one of the most unique and pic- 



turesque scenes to be found anywhere. 
Albeit the glimpse it gave of the old- 
en time and the vivid recollection of 
a revolting incident in human history 
which it recalled left a feeling of sad- 
ness. The ruins of Old Panama are 
covered by a rank growth of tropical 
vegetation for after its tragic fall the 
Spaniards abandoned it and since its 
destruction only the curious, the treas- 
ure seeker, or the tourist cares to visit 
it. The Indians still bury their dead 
among the ruins and we saw many 
new graves within the old walls of the 
church. 

Panama Saving Money. 

The $10,000,000 which Panama re- 
ceived from Uncle Sam have not been 
squandered. About $1,000,000 were 
used in paying the debts of the State 
of Panama, $6,000,000 invested in se- 
curities in the United States, and 
$300,000 deposited as guarantee of 
parity of currency. The remainder is 
on deposit in New York and London 
and is to be used to pay for public im- 
provements or to protect additional is- 
sues of currency. Panama's finances 
appear to be in good shape. 

The total amount of excavation on 
the Canal is estimated at 110,000,000 
cubic yards according to the latest re- 
vised figures. The amount of dredg- 
ing to be done in the sea level chan- 
nel on the Atlantic side is 12,000,000 
cubic yards and on the Pacific 8,000,- 



000. Everyone here believes this ma- 
terial can be moved within the time 
limit, eight years. 

Panama's Customs Receipts. 

The customs dues (impuesto com- 
mercial, on general merchandise 
which is taxed 10 per cent ad valorem 
amounted last year to $935,325 Pan- 
ama silver. On liquors which are heav- 
ily taxed in comparison with other 
merchandise, the dues were $409,000; 
on tobacco $100,000; cigarettes $58,- 
000; matches, coffee, opium and salt 
$47,000. Coffee and salt are protect- 
ed by the Panama tariff on account of 
being produced in abundance here. 

Mr. Ehrman, the successful banker 
of Panama, has a wonderful collection 
of curios and rare Indian relics, which 
many members of our party by his 
courtesy examined with interest. 
Nearly all of them are of solid gold 
and of great value. Mr. Ehrman's 
father came here over forty years ago 
from Louisiana and the firm is well 
established and prosperous. He has 
enjoyed exceptional opportunities of 
gathering the golden relics of a by- 
gone race. The ornaments are found 
in old graves which are located by tap- 
ping the earth. Most of them are 
shaped like frogs, tigers, pigs, bats, 
birds, and other living creatures. Oth- 
ers represent men and women. The 
figures are usually rudely hammered 
out, though some display considerable 

—21— 



skill. Agazzi examined this collection 
twice but was unable to decide as to 
the age when the ornaments were 
made. 

Beautiful Island of Taboga. 

A trip by boat to Taboga Island was 
one of the enjoyable incidents of our 
sojourn on the Isthmus. Taboga is 
ten miles from Panama city in a part 
of the bay where the gentle breezes 
always blow. The island is about 
seven miles long by three miles wide 
and has a population estimated at 3,- 
000. How so many people can live 
there would be a mystery were it not 
for the prodigality with which nature 
produces her fruits and the abundance 
of fish in the bay near by. Any one 
can go out and with little effort gath- 
er enough fruit to sustain life. 

In Taboga village the streets are so 
narrow and with so many offsets and 
turns as to make the passage of a ve- 
hicle impossible if there were such a 
conveyance on the island. The houses 
are miserably cheap and poor struc- 
tures, built without regard to lines or 
lots, apparently erected anywhere the 
occupant took a notion to set up a 
home. They are jammed in close to- 
gether and full of people and pigs, for 
in many houses we could see women, 
children, and pigs on friendly terms. 
Five hundred people are thus packed 
on a piece of ground no larger than 



the College campus, on a rough, stony 
hillside. 

The French built a sanitarium on 
Taboga island which now belongs to 
our Canal commission. It is in charge 
of Dr. and Mrs. Randall, who manage 
it successfully. Many patients from 
the hospitals at Ancon and Colon are 
sent to Taboga to recuperate after a 
siege of sickness. Many of those who 
are barely able to stand when they 
reach Taboga are soon invigorated by 
the life giving breezes and in a few 
weeks are able to go back to work. We 
visited the odd old church built over 
200 years ago and left Taboga glad 
that we had been so fortunate as to 
get this brief glimpse of such a 
strange mode of life. 

The Great Gatun Dam. 

The site of the mighty Gatun Dam 
was carefully examined by our party. 
Interest has entered in this dam be- 
cause it is the part of the project 
which has been most severely criticiz- 
ed. Mr. Stevens, Mr. Ripley, and ev- 
ery engineer with whom I talked ex- 
pressed the utmost confidence in the 
character of the foundation and no 
one has the slightest doubt that it will 
hold. Indeed some assert that 1,000,- 
000 cubic yards of material would be 
sufficient to hold the waters of 
Chagres river and the waters of Gatun 



lake which is created by this great 
dam. 22,000,000 cubic yards are to 
be used in making it. The area of 
the lake will be 110 square miles. 
The dam will be 8,000 feet long 
and 135 feet high. It will be 
100 feet wide at the top and 2,625 feet, 
or a half mile, wide at the bottom. 
The water will be 85 feet deep, so the 
top of the dam will be 50 feet above 
the level of the lake. This and a spill- 
way 150 feet wide should be sufficient 
to take care of the great floods in the 
Chagres river. The material for the 
Gatun dam will be conveyed an aver- 
age distance of 10 miles. 

It costs $1 per mile to move a train- 
load of earth and rock. Bach train is 
composed of seventeen cars which 
hold an average of 18 yards each. 
They are loaded and unloaded by ma- 
chinery. The material is chiefly the 
indurated clay of which the public has 
heard so much from canal critics. It 
is a volcanic rock which crumbles just 
as much as our Washington county 
limestone does when exposed to the 
air, but underground is quite hard. It 
is blasted out of the hills by dynamite. 
The holes are drilled seven feet apart 
and 20 feet deep. The charge is from 
30 to 60 pounds. The drilling ma- 
chines were formerly run by steam 
but now compressed air is used. The 
increase in efficiency is said to be ful- 

—22— 



ly 20 per cent. As all the material 
from the great cuts has to be handled 
on the cars it was thought best to use 
much of it in increasing the thickness 
of the Gatun dam so as to make it safe 
beyond all peradventure. 

The lottery which is in operation at 
Panama City has a branch at Colon. 
The drawing takes place on Sunday. 
This morning scores of men and wo- 
men, mostly colored, were gathered in 
front of the lottery office to see the 
lucky number posted. The highest 
prize, $3,000, was won by number 744. 
Others drew smaller sums but of 
course thousands were disappointed. 
Gambling in this form is general. 
Even the reputable stores sell lottery 
tickets. The result is very demoraliz- 
ing. In some way our government 
should put a stop to this. 

Bull Fights are Revolting. 

The bull fight yesterday was a re- 
volting exhibition. Such a show is 
given now every Sunday. The animals 
have little spirit and are terribly goad- 
ed to madden them. The valiant bull 
fighters take no chancp* themselves, 
having safe retreats built close to the 
walls of the arena. The so-called fight 
was merely a cruel way of slaughter- 
ing the animal but the spectators 
cheered with delight as the frenzied 
bull, bleeding from many cruel wounds 
occasionally charged his tormentors 




Congressional Party at the Ruins of the Church at Old Panama. 



who waved their red capes. The spec- 
tacle was disgusting in the extreme 
and it is marvellous how any one can 
enjoy it. 

This town has many husky, enter- 
prising Americans who are cram full 
of energy and are bound to succeed. 
Their modern and progressive meth- 
ods cause the native Panaman to open 
his eyes in wonder and also arouse 
his jealousy. The native is too indo- 
lent to hustle himself, yet is envious 
of the go-ahead American who has in- 
fused new life into the Isthmus. The 
native is mostly incapable of appre- 
ciating American generosity, the op- 
portunities open to him, and the debt 
he owes to the United States for its 
liberal treatment. He seems to think 
these concessions were made by us 
through fear of complications. For 
these reasons American residents 
speak with some contempt of the na- 
tives. 

Enthusiasm of Canal Workers. 
The splendid enthusiasm of those 
who have charge of all departments of 
Canal work is inspiring. The spirit 
of confidence and devotion to the 
cause is all pervasive, and permeates 
the very atmosphere of the Zone. The 
esprit de corps of those directing all 
branches of the work is magnificent. 
The great enterprise has attracted to 
the Isthmus many of the most active 



and patriotic young men of the states 
who are anxious to have their names 
linked with this master achievement 
of all the ages. In their lexicon there is 
no such word as fail. Whoever inspir- 
ed this- enthusiasm performed a great 
work. If it was the personality of Mr. 
Stevens as many claim, he is certainly 
entitled to the thanks of the country. 
One thing is sure. Every one speaks 
with admiring enthusiasm of Mr. 
Stevens and regrets his departure. 
The points of general agreement on 
other matters are that the sanitary 
work of Col. Gorgas is remarkable, 
that Capt. Shanton handles the police 
department admirably, and that U. S. 
Consul Shankin is an energetic, effi- 
cient, and popular officer whose devo- 
tion to the interests of his country 
makes his services invaluable. On all 
other matters there is more or less 
disagreement. 

The Canal when completed will 
probably have cost $250,000,000. While 
this is a vast sum it is not so much in 
proportion to the wealth of the United 
States as the cost at the time of its 
construction of the old National road. 
That was the first great work of in- 
ternal improvement undertaken by the 
government. It was begun 100 years 
ago under President Jefferson's admin- 
istration when the country was so 
poor that is was not thought worth 
while to compile statistics of wealth. 

—23— 



The United States expended about $7,- 
000,000 in constructing that famous 
old highway. It was for many years 
the main artery of commerce between 
the East and the West. Its cost was 
a mere bagatelle compared to its ben- 
efits in binding together remote sec- 
tions of our country. So the cost of 
the Isthmian Canal will be counted as 
a small expenditure a century hence 
when the American people come to es- 
timate what has been accomplished by 
uniting the Atlantic and Pacific at 
Panama. 

Canal Work an Object Lesson. 

The work on the Canal Zone is an 
object lesson to the whole of Latin 
America. The Anglo Saxon has con- 
quered the tropics. He has shown 
that the race can live and thrive in a 
hot climate. By strictly observing the 
laws of health and enforcing sanita- 
tion he has eradicated deadly disease 
and banished such afflictions as ma- 
laria which paralyze effort. The in- 
habitants of Latin America can learn 
how they must live by observing what 
has been done on the Isthmus. When 
the Canal is completed thousands of 
competent young Americans, familiar 
with their customs and language by 
years of residence on the Zone, will be 
equipped to aid them in the march of 
progress and civilization. The Pana- 



ma Canal will improve the social, mor- 
al, material, and political conditions in 
every country between the Rio Grande 
and the Straits of Magellen. President 



Roosevelt's administration will be not- 
ed in history for many wise and be- 
neficent measures but the supreme 
achievement of his two terms will be 



recorded as the inauguration of work 
on the Isthmian Canal through his in- 
sistent leadership and sagacious 
statesmanship. 



Costa Rica the Best of the Central American Countries 



San Jose, Costa Rica, March 20, — 
Sailing from Colon at 1 o'clock on 
Monday our section of the congress- 
ional party reached Port Limon, Costa 
Rica, early yesterday morning. The 
distance is 192 miles. Our ride through 
the golden Caribbean was on the beau- 
tiful steamer Ellis of the United 
Fruit company's line, a staunch ves- 
sel of 3,000 tons, manned by as polite 
and capable a set of officers and crew 
as ever trod a ship's deck. Every- 
thing possible was done to promote the 
comfort and happiness of the pas- 
sengers. 

Port Limon was named by Columbus 
who sailed along this coast on his last 
voyage vainly searching for a pas- 
sage to the western sea. The old r avi- 
gator explored the shore lines of each 
gulf and bay and sailed into each river 
between Yucatan and Trinidad. This 
portion of the land was well named 
Costa Rica, or rich coast, and the 
harbor in which our good ship an- 
chored was called "Puerto de Limon," 
because the islands near by were cov- 



ered with lime trees. Limon, pro- 
nounced as though spelled Lemone, 
has a population of 8,000, a large pro- 
portion being negroes from Jamaica, 
who are employed in loading and un- 
loading ships and upon the immense 
banana plantations near by. English 
is the exclusive language as it is in all 
the coast country of Costa Rica. In- 
deed English is taught now in all the 
schools throughout the country and 
its study is compulsory. It must also 
be used in all the stores. Costa Rica 
prides itself on being the only country 
of Central America which has more 
school teachers than soldiers and this 
is saying a great deal in Latin Amer- 
ica, where revolutions follow one an- 
other in rapid succession and civil au- 
thority is generally only maintained 
by force of arms. 

Great Banana Country. 

The railroad connecting Port Limon 
with San Jose, the capital, has a 
guage of three feet, six inches. The 
distance is 102 miles. For six miles 

—24— 



after leaving Limon the road skirts the 
coast most of the way within sight of 
the breaking billows and then turns up 
-the valley of the Reventizan river. For 
many miles it passes through the won- 
derful banana farms which have made 
Costa Rica famous. Here the banana 
grows all the year around. A banana 
shoot or branch, as it is called, starts 
to produce at the age of nine months. 
The branches are cut down each sea- 
son. Then the laborer cuts the shoots 
with his machette or corn cutter, 
sticks the machette into the ground, 
twists it, puts in a, shoot, stamps it, 
and that is all the cultivation the ban- 
ana branch gets. The underbrush 
which grows in tropical luxuriance is 
cut three times each year, however. 
The banana bunches are measured by 
hands. Each perfect hand has 22 ban- 
anas. The number of hands on a 
bunch ranges from 7 to 22. The aver- 
age number of bananas on a bunch 
is 144, though a few bunches have 
been found with upward of 500. 
The land along this coast is pe- 



culiarly adapted to banana raising. 
While the banana trees thrived for 
awhile in other countries of Central 
America no soil seemed rich enough 
to stand the continuous cultivation of 
bananas save that of Costa Rica 
and upper Panama. Land can be 
bought here at $12 per acre. It 
costs $40 per acre to clear it, 
and put it in condition to raise 
bananas. It will yield 15 bunches 
of bananas per acre every month. 
Taking the average of 144 bananas to 
the bunch it will be seen that each 
acre will produce 25,920 bananas an- 
ually. The vegetation is so rank and 
its growth so rapid that it takes one 
man to every three acres to clear the 
brush and grass every four months, 
pick the fruit, dig the ditches, build 
the bridges, and do all the necessary 
work. Farm laborers are paid from 
85 cents to $1.50 per day, American 
money. As $1 of our money is equiv- 
alent to 215 centavos or $2.15 Costa 
Rican money, the laborers can live lux- 
uriously on these wages if they choose. 
Here as in Panama the Jamaicans are 
indolent and will not work regularly. 
If engaged to go to work at 7 a. m. 
they may not appear until 8 or 9 
o'clock, and after three or four days' 
work will lay off for two or three 
days. Frequently they go off into the 
bush or jungle as it is called, build a 
shack and clear a piece of ground. 
Under the law these squatters must 



be paid for their improvements if the 
owner of the land wishes to take pos- 
session. The land is divided into hec- 
tares or 2.47 acres and all calculations 
as to production are based on this 
measurement. 

The Banana Industry. 
The United Fruit company owns 
150,000 acres of land susceptible of 
banana culture. The greater por- 
tion of this, remote from the railroad, 
is not yet used for the production of 
bananas. Last year the company pur- 
chased about half of the bananas it 
shipped. Many banana growers own 
their own farms. During 1906, no less 
than 8,500,000 bunches were shipped 
from Port Limon, of which 5,000,000 
went to the United States. There is 
no export duty on bananas. About 
400 ships or an average of more then 
one ship per day loaded with bananas 
left Port Limon last year. This year 
it is confidently believed 10,000,000 
bunches will be exported. A ship 
of 3,000 tons sometimes takes from 
40,000 to 50,000 bunches. While the 
Jamaica bananas are pronounced bet- 
ter by epicures the Costa Rican or 
Limon bananas sell better in the mar- 
ket because they look better. They 
have a fine appearance and four cus- 
tomers out of five will choose them. 
A good many settlers have come here 
from the United States and have been 
very successful in banana raising. I 

—25— 



have therefore sought information on 
the subject for the Observer, think- 
ing that some of our Washington coun- 
ty farmers who are selling coal lands 
may wish to come here to try banana 
growing. The business is said to be 
very profitable and the consumption 
increases steadily. I can well remem- 
ber when a banana was unknown in 
Washington. 

Mountain Climbing By Rail. 
Passing through vast banana farms, 
one of which belonging to one com- 
pany is nine miles in length, our train 
reaches the foot hills of the Cordil- 
leras and begins its winding climb to 
the summit, a mile above us in the 
clouds. The road follows the valley 
of the Reventizan, which soon be- 
comes a dashing torrent. For forty 
or fifty miles there is a succession of 
horseshoe bends equal to any of the 
curves on the W. & W. railroad, be- 
tween Washington and Waynesburg. 
The route is more tortuous and the 
grade at many points heavier than on 
the only railroad which reaches 
Greene county's capital. Like our 
"Narrow gauge" this line is a great 
revenue producer. Last year it earn- 
ed over $1,700,000. It was built by 
an English syndicate, but has been 
taken over by the United Fruit com- 
pany. The Reventizan is a consider- 
able stream and as it falls again and 
again over the rocks for mile after 



mile, the thought comes that some day 
this power now wasted will be util- 
ized. It would undoubtedly be suffic- 
ient to generate electricity which 
would operate the railroad, light many 
towns and run thousands of machines. 
Our train winds through picturesque 
mountain passes and deep gorges 
where mighty walls of solid rock 
rise for hundreds of feet. The moun- 
tains are fertile to their very tips. 
Gardens are planted on slopes as steep 
as the roof of a house. Clouds hover 
over us obscuring the mountains 
across the valley. As we approach the 
summit we get a good view of Irazu, 
a volcano on a peak said to be 14,000 
feet above the sea, but which does 
not look the part. It is one of a group 
in this neighborhood which are row 
quiescent, but sometimes get gay and 
vomit sulphur, lava and ashes. Two 
miles from the summit we stop at Car- 
tago, a town of 10,000 people, which 
was destroyed by an eruption nearly 
60 years ago. It is 90 miles from the 
coast and about 5,000 feet above sea 
level. The air is cool and bracing 
and one can scarcely believe that it 
is only a few hours since we were 
sweltering in tropical heat at Port 
Limon. Many persons from the Canal 
zone come to Cartago to recuperate 
when worn out by continuous hot 
weather. It takes only a day from 
Colon to reach this mountain top. We 
are told that accommodations for 



boarders are at a premium and it has 
been suggested that the Canal com- 
mission build a Sanitarium at Cartago. 
A few weeks here would do as much 
to revitalize a man as his six weeks 
annual vacation spent in the States 
and the trip would be much less ex- 
pensive. A peculiarity of this region 
is that it will rain for weeks on the 
Atlantic side of the mountains and 
never a drop fall on the Pacific side. 
Going down to San Jose the descent is 
about 150 feet to the mile. Switches 
and sidings for runaway trains are 
provided, the tracks of the sidings 
running at a stiff upward grade for 
some distance to allow a runaway 
train which is switched to it to ex- 
pend its force and enable the crew to 
get control of it. 

San Jose, the Capita! City. 

After a delightful seven hours ride 
we reached San Jose, the capital of 
Costa Rica. It happened to be the feast 
day of St. Joseph, in whose honor the 
city is named, and the stores and busi- 
ness places were closed while people 
thronged the beautiful parks and listen- 
ed to good music by the National band. 
San Jose has a population of 25,000 
and is a solidly built town of clean 
and attractive appearance. The 
streets are narrow as in all Spanish 
towns, but are well paved. The bulk 
of the population of Costa Rica is in 
the country around San Jose. It was 

—26— 



settled by immigrants from provinces 
in Spain where the people were Cau- 
casians and had never mingled with 
the Moors. When they came to Costa 
Rica they kept their blood pure and 
refused to intermarry with the Indians 
as most of the Spanish settlers did. 
Thus it happens that while at Panama 
city, a place about the same size as 
San Jose, it is said that there are 
only 16 families without any trace 
of the tar-brush, as the mixing of 
races is called, in the capital of this 
Republic and the country round 
about, thousands of families of Euro- , 
pean descent and pure Caucasian 
blood can be found. Pew negroes are 
seen here. They keep to the coast 
country. 

The population of Costa Rica is es- 
timated at 350,000. The area is 18,- 
400 square miles or equal to that of 
New Hampshire and Vermont com- 
bined. The foreign population is 
about 7,000 and this is increasing 
slightly by immigration. The govern- 
ment has begun to encourage immi- 
gration by the sale of land on easy 
terms. Costa Rica maintains an army 
of only 1,000 men while Nicaragua has 
5,000. Just now some apprehension 
is felt as to the effect which the mili- 
tary success of President Jose Santos 
Zelaya, of Nicaragua will have on Cen- 
tral American politics. Zelaya is 
carrying on war with Honduras and 
Salvador. He is said to be ambitious 





Specimens of Bananas, Port Limon, Costa Rica. 




to unite all the Central American 
states in a union of which he would be 
president. He is represented as a mil- 
itary dictator and if successful in his 
present operations it is feared will 
turn upon Costa Rica. Union with 
Nicaragua and other Central American 
states' would not be agreeable to 
Costa Rica. It would prefer annexa- 
tion to the United States. Indeed, as 
long ago as 1822 it was ready to fol- 
low San Salvador in asking the United 
States for annexation. It is the most 
advanced country in Central America, 
with a more desirable population and 
with more stable government. No 
revolution has occurred here for 35 
years. The gold standard has been 
adopted and business is on a solid bas- 
is. The people are peaceful and do 
not want to go to war. They have 
the reputation of being more indus- 
trious and honest than their neigh- 
bors in other states. Most of them 
take little interest in politics, do not 
vote and care little who governs them 
so that peace is maintained. While 
they probably work more than the 
inhabitants of other countries in the 
tropics they are not hustlers. Here 
as m other Spanish countries the word 
most often used is "Manana," mean- 
ing "some other time." The country 
has immense resources, agricultural, 
mineral and timber, but the greater 
part of its territory is unoccupied. 
Here as in all Spanish countries, there 



is no land tax. That is the reason the 
country has not made progress. Im- 
mense tracts of land are held under 
ancient grants and as there is no tax 
to pay it is held in rich families who 
do not use it and will not subdivide 
and sell it. Import duties are levied 
on tobacco, liquors and various kinds 
of goods. 

Great Fertility of the Soil. 
It is said broadly that everything 
will grow in Costa Rica. By far the 
larger part of the population and pro- 
duction is on the Pacific side of the 
mountains, yet nine-tenths of all its 
exports are from Port Limon. Sixty- 
five per cent, of these exports go to 
the United States. While bananas are 
the principal export, still last year 
the value of coffee exported was $3,- 
350,000. At Limon we saw 450 men 
employed loading our ship with ban- 
anas. All told 32,000 bunches or over 
4,600,000 bananas are to be put on 
board. This is about an average load. 
Then if one considers that the United 
Fruit company has 102 ships carrying 
fruit to the United States and Europe 
he gets a faint idea of the tremend- 
ous growth of the business. Of course 
many of the ships ply between Cuba, 
Jamaica and other fruit producing 
countries to ports of the United 
States and England. This company 
gives work to 7,000 persons including 
railroad employes. 

—27— 



San Jose boasts of one of the most 
magnificent theatres in the world. 
Only Paris and Milan have structures 
which exceed it in grandeur. It was 
built by the government and cost over 
$1,500,000. The money was raised by 
a coffee tax. The best mechanics and 
decorators in Italy were brought here 
to do the work. Although only ten de- 
grees from the Equator the mercury 
never rises above 84, while in Canada 
it reaches 104. Perpetual spring reigns 
and the flowers are perennial. The 
days are warm and the nights cool 
enough to sleep under a blanket. No 
one has an overcoat, and the houses 
have no chimneys. Shoes are not 
worn by the women of the lower class- 
es. Education is free and compulsory 
between the ages of eight and four- 
teen. On account of earthquakes the 
houses are one and two story struc- 
tures with thick adobe walls. 
Through the courtesy of Mrs. Fernan- 
dez we were permitted to see the in- 
terior of one of the houses of the bet- 
ter class. She invited us to her resi- 
dence which is on an elevation over- 
looking the town. Mrs. Fernandez's 
husband was at one time Minister of 
Education and at the time of his death 
was president of congress. We were 
charmingly entertained at this beau- 
tiful Costa Rican home and if its in- 
mates are representative of the people 
we must admit that they surpass us in 
social graces. The children were edu- 



cated abroad, speak several languages 
fluently and have accomplishments 
which fit them to adorn the best so- 
ciety anywhere in the world. 

Strict Sanitary Regulations. 

The sanitary and quarantine regu- 
lations are better enforced in Costa 
Rica than in any state in Central 
America. The health officer who came 
aboard the Ellis at Port Limon did 
not perform his duties in the usual 
perfunctory manner. He felt the pulse 
and examined the vaccination mark 
of every passenger. The buzzards 
help to protect the public health and 
great flocks of these scavengers of 
the air can be seen from the car win- 
dows. We also see many teams of 
oxen yoked together by the horns as 
in Cuba. San Jose is over 4,000 feet 
above the sea, on the Pacific slope of 



the mountains and its surroundings 
are picturesque and beautiful. The 
valleys between the mountain ranges 
near by are exceedingly rich and fer- 
tile. And to speak again of the ban- 
ana it is reported that a grower has 
just produced a bunch flavored like 
an apple and which smells and tastes 
like an apple. This has caused s >me 
excitement in the banana world and 
the success of the experiment will 
open a wider market and lead to a 
largely increased demand for the 
banana. 

What has been accomplished by the 
United Fruit company shows what 
American energy and enterprise can 
do in a tropical country. It is over 
four hundred years since Europeans 
first set foot in Costa Rica. It was 
the first country on the mainland of 
the continent to be discovered, but 



as yet its marvellous resources are 
scarcely touched. Extensive prairies 
affording fine pasturage are found in 
the northern part of the country and 
vast forests of valuable timber in the 
northeastern section. Sugar, corn, 
cocoa and tropical fruits flourish. The 
coffee is of superior quality. The land 
held by the government is sold at a 
nominal figure with a long time allow- 
ed for payment. Costa Rica only needs 
more enterprising Americans with cap- 
ital, such men as manage the United 
Fruit company, to bring it into the 
first rank of prosperous communities 
of this continent. One bids adieu to 
this wonderful little country of Cen- 
tral America, thankful that he has had 
an opportunity to visit it and wishing 
for it the development and advance- 
ment which its rich resources and 
varied attractions merit. 




-23- 



New Orleans and the Lower Mississippi 



The return trip from Panama was 
made by way of New Orleans. Eight 
days were spent with other members 
of the committee on rivers and har- 
bors of the House of Representatives 
in an inspection of Louisiana water- 
ways. This committee visited Louis- 
iana at the request of the state dele- 
gation and was entertained by the 
commercial organizations of the prin- 
cipal cities of the state. The follow- 
ing interview appeared in the Observer 
of Saturday, April 6 : 

"Our ship entered the south pass of 
the Mississippi a little after noon on 
Sunday, March 24. I had seen the 
mouths of the Mississippi before, but 
what can be learned there is a never 
ceasing wonder. The Father of 
Waters has three great outlets, the 
South Pass, the Southwest Pass and 
the Southeast Pass. All told, 1,300,000 
cubic feet of water, or seven times 
that amount in gallons, passes out in- 
to the gulf each minute. The amount 
of matter carried in suspension and 
deposited as sediment each year 
would cover one square mile of ter- 
ritory to a height of 360 feet. As the 
average depth of water is between 30 
and 40 feet, this soil washed from 27 
states makes from 10 to 12 square 
miles of land annually. Pennsylvania 
and Louisiana have the same area, 



45,000 square miles. While the area 
of Pennsylvania is fixed, Louisiana 
adds to its total each year a strip of 
land as large as South Franklin town- 
ship. 

New Orleans. 

"It was my third visit to New Or- 
leans, and yet there is so much to see 
there that I enjoyed every minute of 
the stay. Its history is intensely in- 
teresting. It has a location which in- 
sures its pre-eminence as one of the 
great cities of America. If New Or- 
leans had the push and enterprise of 
many of the small northern towns it 
would soon have a population of 1,- 
000,000. Its people do not seem to be 
imbued with the mad rush for wealth 
which characterizes our northern com- 
munities. If a merchant makes $5,000 
or $10,000 per year he spends it; and 
if a clerk receives $1,500, he has no 
ambition to save it. As a whole the 
people do not care to accumulate. The 
Mardi Gras is an annual extravagance 
in which the city indulges. It costs 
$1,000,000 for the display. I was told 
that men gave $25 or $50 to make 
this a success who could not afford it. 
Then everybody loses a week of work 
and the waste in wages is estimated at 
$2,000,000. On the other hand the 
city takes credit for $1,000,000 spent 

—29— 



by 100,000 visitors, but is still short 
about $2,000,000 on account of this fes- 
tival. During its continuance every- 
body keeps open house and entertains 
friends. New Orleans has been satis- 
fied to have dirty streets with foul 
water covered with green scum in 
the gutters, but a better day is dawn- 
ing. The city is growing by force of 
circumstances. Its commanding loca- 
tion and splendid harbor, with water 
100 feet deep for miles above and be- 
low, compel it to forge ahead and as- 
sure its future supremacy. 

"Our party went up the Mississippi 
by boat to the mouth of the Red river. 
The banks are lined with beautiful su- 
gar plantations many of which contain 
from 2,000 to 3,000 acres. A good su- 
gar house with modern equipment 
costs about $100,000. Some of these 
plantations sell at $250 an acre. The 
current in the river is very shifty and 
uncertain. Sometimes it eats re- 
morselessly into one of its banks un- 
til half a plantation will be washed 
away. This is a dead loss to the own- 
er, although a little lower down the ac- 
cretions on the other shore may add 
an equal area to the plantation of a 
neighbor. The land thus made be- 
longs to the owner of the plantation 
so enlarged. Many fine homes have 
gone into the river and disappeared. 



The channel is seven-eighths of a mile 
wide at New Orleans and three-fourths 
of a mile wide for a long distance 
above the city. If a cut is made 
across a bend to straighten the chan- 
nel, the rover eventually makes a re- 
verse curve somewhere below and 
stretches out to its usual length. This 
was true of it in its natural state. 
Now it is confined by levees about 20 
feet high on each side. These revet- 
ments cost from $20 to $45 per run- 
ning foot. 

"About ten miles above New Orleans 
on the east side is the beautiful 1,000,- 
acre plantation of Gibbs Morgan, Esq., 
one of the leading lawyers of that city. 
He is a great-grandson of Col. George 
Morgan, of Morganza, and has rela- 
tives living in this community. His 
home is known as the "Danish Consul 
plantation," as it formerly belonged to 
Mr. Frellsen, who was consul from 
Denmark to New Orleans for many 
years. 

Plaquemine Bayou. 

"Plaquemine is on the west bank 
of the Mississippi about 100 miles 
above New Orleans. Here came 
Nicholas Wilson from Washington a 
hundred years ago and settled on a 
splendid plantation a mile below the 
town. He was an uncle of Alexander 
Wilson, Esq.; of Misses Jennie and 
Eleanor Baird, of East Wheeling street 



and connected with many other fami- 
lies in this community. The old plan- 
tation contained several thousand 
acres and has been divided into three 
parts. Some of Mr. Wilson's descend- 
ants live on these plantations yet. Oth- 
ers are scattered over the state, at 
New Orleans, Lake Charles and 
Shreveport. All are worthy descend- 
ants of a good man. The lock which 
has just been completed W Plaque- 
mine to connect the Mississippi with 
the Bayou is the largest in the world. 
It will have a lift of 36 feet, twice that 
of the lock at the Soo, and the gates 
are 52 feet in order to accommodate 
the rise of water during floods in the 
Mississippi. Many beautiful sugar 
plantations are located on the Plaque- 
mine Bayou. I was interested to 
know that some of them used Wash- 
ington county coal which comes from 
the Monongahela river. They pay 
$5.30 per ton. Last year 500,000 tons 
of this coal were sold at Plaquemine. 
Most of the planters, however, are 
using oil brought from Texas as fuel. 
The price of oil has been going up and 
is now $1.40 a barrel. One planter 
told me that he considered a ton of 
Pittsburg coal equal to five barrels of 
oil, but another put the proportion at 
one ton to two and a half barrels. If 
the improvement of the Ohio river 
were completed and a uniform depth 
of nine feet from Pittsburg to Cairo 

—80— 



the year around assured our coal 
could be sold at $2.50 to $3.00 per ton. 
These big plantations use from 4,000 
to 6,000 tons each annually. 

Big Real Estate Deal. 

"Baton Rouge, the state capital, is 
an interesting little city, not so large 
as Washington. The portion of Lou- 
isiana east of it to the Pearl river was 
not included in the purchase made by 
Livingston from the French in 1803. It 
was claimed by the Spaniards for 
years afterward and called West Flor- 
ida. In 1810 it was taken by Ameri- 
cans and the Spanish claim has never 
been settled. It is not clear how Liv- 
ington overlooked this piece of terri- 
tory. He made the greatest real es- 
tate deal in history when he bought 
Louisiana. Next to the treaty of 1783, 
this purchase represents our greatest 
and most valuable acquisition of ter- 
ritory. Jefferson only wanted New Or- 
leans, but Livingston acquired a vast 
territory besides at a low price. He 
was a shrewd dealer, saying to the 
French that it would be a hundred 
years before the white man set foot 
west of the Mississippi. In less than 
50 years the Stars and Stripes were 
afloat over everything clear to the Pa- 
cific. West Florida has been under 
seven flags, English, Spanish, French, 
West Florida, United States, Confed- 
erate and United States. No other 



piece of territory in our country has 
■witnessed such a change of sovereign- 
ty. 

"Our boat turned up the Red river 
and then down the Atchafalaya. A 
plantation on the Red river was the 
scene of 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.' Mrs. 
Stowe never visited Louisiana and her 
information came from a school teach- 
er who had spent some time there. 
All those here who speak of the book 
say that it is an extreme picture. Usu- 
ally the relations between master and 
slave were kindly and instances of 
such cruelty as is depicted in 'Uncle 
Tom's Cabin' were rare. Atchafala- 
ya' is an Indian word, meaning 'very 
long river.' As a matter of fact it is 
a very short river. It is supposed that 
at one time it was the outlet of the 
Red river. At one point the Red and 
the Mississippi came within six miles 
of each other. The Red worked its 
way east and the Mississippi west un- 
til the two were united and the waters 
of the Red went to the gulf by the 
Mississippi channel. Recently the 
mats of drift in the Atchafalaya were 
cut away and now about one-fourth of 
the flow of the Red goes to the gulf by 
way of the Atchafalaya. 

"We went by boat from Morgan City 
to Franklin up the Teche, pronounced 
*Tesh.' This is through Acadia, made 
famous by Longfellow in his poem, 
'Evangeline.' Part of our trip was by 



the light of the full moon. Fine sugar 
plantations are on either bank. We 
passed the tree under which Evange- 
line is said to have slept as her lover 
went by. It has been cut up and most 
of it carried away by relic hunters. 
The old love story was told as we 
glided gently by with music on the 
upper deck, which made the trip seem 
like one in Fairyland. 

Avery Island Salt Mine. 

"We visited the great salt mine at 
Avery island. It is the largest mine 
in the world. The area of the island 
is four square miles and two square 
miles of this is a solid block of salt. 
Drills have been put down through it 
to a depth of 2,299 feet, when cedar 
wood 25 and 30 feet in thickness was 
encountered. Operations are carried on 
now 532 feet below the surface so as 
to give a roof and keep the water out. 
Entries are driven very much in the 
same way as in our coal mines except 
that they are about 25 feet in height. 
Eighty thousand tons of salt were tak- 
en from this mine last year. We saw 
10,000 tons at the mouth of the mine 
waiting shipment, but no cars avail- 
able. The cars on hand only held 20 
tons and seemed very small along side 
of our 50 ton coal cars. General Av- 
ery's grandfather came from New 
Jersey in 1815 and settled on this isl- 
and. Lump salt was discovered in 

—31— 



1862, the first in America. It is 98.6 
per cent pure. Tobasco pepper also 
grows in profusion on this island and 
a thousand barrels of oysters are 
shipped every day. Five hundred 
men are given employment. The high- 
est part of the island is 350 feet above 
the sea. Here General Avery, his 
sons and Civil Service Commissioner 
Mcllhenney, his son-in-law, have fine 
homes, where we were beautifully en- 
tertained. 

"We passed the island owned by the 
late Joseph Jefferson, the actor, which 
he called Bob Acres. In this neighbor- 
hood are lands said to yield 300 to 400 
barrels of onions per acre. The seed 
is brought from Bermuda. The oyster 
beds nearby yield 1,000 barrels per 
acre. Last year 3,000,000 bushels of 
oysters were taken from the Louis- 
iana beds and on each bushel the state 
imposes a tax of one cent. 

Wide Rice Lands. 

"We passed through miles and miles 
of rice land. Much of this land can 
be purchased for $20 to $25 per acre. 
The average production of rice 
is about ten sacks per acre. 
Each sack contains 180 pounds and 
sells at $3. Many instances are giv- 
en of persons who have cleared the 
price of the land in one crop. It is 
said to be a common thing. It is only 
20 years since rice growing was be- 



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Palm Avenue, Cristobal Colon, Canal Zone. 



gun in this neighborhood. One man 
can cultivate 100 acres. Wages are 
pretty good and the demand for labor 
is great. The usual rate is $1.50 per 
day for common labor. Many farm- 
ers are moving from Illinois and Iowa 
to these rice lands. They say one 
must pay $125 per acre now for good 
land in those states. Such land when 
planted in corn will produce about $20 
gross. They can produce $30 worth 
of rice on land which they can buy for 
one-fifth as much as in Illinois or 
Iowa. 

"Lake Charles is one of the growing 
towns of the state and the metropolis 
of Southwestern Louisiana. It has nu- 
merous saw mills which turn out about 
750,000 feet of lumber per day. The 
yellow pine timber belt is about 15 
miles north of the town. 

Wonderful Sulphur Mine. 

"Ten miles northwest of Lake" 
Charles is the wonderful sulphur 
mine, said to be the greatest in the 
world. Sulphur was discovered here 
during the Civil war while boring for 
salt. Over $2,000,000 were expended 
by different companies in attempting 
to mine it. The property finally pass- 
ed into the hands of the Standard Oil 
company and Professor Herman 
Frasche, the engineer for that great 
company, invented a method of get- 
ting it out. Wells are drilled to a 



depth of 500 to 600 feet. A 13-inch 
iron pipe is inserted with a six-inch 
pipe inside. Superheated steam is 
forced down the larger pipe. It melts 
the sulphur and the air pressure 
brings it up the six-inch pipe. It 
pours out like molasses. It is confin- 
ed in large square pens made by set- 
ting heavy planks on edge. Some of 
these pens are 200 by 1,400 feet, with 
an area of about seven acres. The sul- 
phur cools when it comes in contact 
with the air. The planks are then 
raised and this is continued until the 
blocks of sulphur are 30 feet high. We 
saw several of these chunks. The mine 
produced last year 300,000 tons. The 
market price was $22 per ton. Dur- 
ing the Russo-Jap war it rose to $40 
per ton. The deposit of sulphur ia 
500 feet below the surface and is 125 
feet in thickness. The limits of the 
deposit have been defined and the 
bed is known to contain 45,000,000 
tons. In the ground the sulphur is ab- 
solutely pure. After handling it, 
walking over it, and so forth, it is 
99.8 per cent pure. Some years ago 
the property was assessed at $50,000. 
It was raised to $85,000 and the com- 
pany appealed. The assessment stood 
and was then raised to $500,000. The 
company again appealed, but the val- 
uation was not changed. This year it 
has been assessed at $5,000,000 and 
the usual appeal is pending. 

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"The Jennings oil field is interest- 
ing from the fact that 250 wells were 
drilled on 75 acres. They are about 
1,600 feet deep. The best well pro- 
duced 3,500,000 barrels. It made a 
thousand barrels an hour for 60 days. 
The field now produces 18,000 barrels 
per day. 

"Shreveport is the largest city in 
Louisiana outside of New Orleans. Its 
population is about 25,000. Some large 
gas wells were brought in in that 
neighborhood last year and the town 
has been piped. It is being widely ad- 
vertised as a city which has "natural 
gas to burn," and the population is 
increasing rapidly. 

Municipal Ownership. 

"Our trip wound up at Monroe, a 
town of 16,000 inhabitants, in North- 
eastern Louisiana, which has been 
making interesting experiments in mu- 
nicipal ownership. It is the only town 
in the United States which owns its 
own street railway. Seven miles of 
first class track were laid at a cost of 
$130,000 for construction and equip- 
ment. Three lines etxend from the 
center of the town to the suburbs. The 
service is good and the fare five cents. 
I was assured that the venture was 
successful from the start and at the 
present rate the net receipts would 
pay for the road in five years. The 
city has also taken over the water 



plant and electric light works and 
claims to have cheaper water and 
light than other towns. Last year Mon- 
roe purchased 300 acres of land two 
miles from the center of the town. 
The street railway has been extended 
out to it, a summer theatre erected, a 
race track built, a ball ground laid out, 
a grandstand erected, and trees, 
shrubs and flowers planted. The land 
cost the city $40,000. The municipal- 
ity also owns the wharf, which cost 
$10,000 and a bridge which cost $88,- 
000. It has expended over $400,000 
for public utilities, yet its bonded debt 
is now only $250,000. Monroe is try- 
ing an interesting experiment which 
will be watched closely by other pro- 
gressive towns in the country. 



Fine Waterways. 

"Louisiana has a matchless system 
of waterways. Its rivers and bayous 
which are navigable have a length of 
over 5,000 miles and reach all save 
three of its 58 parishes, which corre- 
spond to our counties. By the cutting 
of canals, which can be done at a small 
cost on account of the alluvial soil, a 
vast network of interlacing waterways 
can be created. The rivers and bayous 
are quite deep, 50 to 100 feet in depth 
being common. The soil is of won- 
derful fertility. The whole state is al- 
luvial and made of the richest por- 
tion of the 27 states washed by the 
Mississippi and its branches. All the 
low land will eventually be reclaimed 
and will blossom like the rose. The 
state could sustain a population equal 



to that of Holland, which has over 500 
to the square mile. Western Pennsyl- 
vania should have a deep interest in 
Louisiana, for its development will 
open a wide field for our coal, iron, 
steel, pottery, glass, and other pro- 
ducts. With a nine-foot stage in the 
Ohio river these products can be con- 
veyed to Louisiana at one-eighth of 
the present freight charge by rail. On 
the other hand, their sugar, molasses, 
rice, salt and lumber can be brought 
up the river at less than one-fourth the 
cost of shipment by rail. Most of the 
sugar goes now by water to New York. 
It costs us $3.80 per ton to bring it 
by rail from New York to Pittsburg. 
With a uniform stage of water in the 
Ohio it could be brought from New Or- 
leans to Pittsburg at $2.30 per ton." 




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